


A Window to the Past and the Door to Tomorrow

by ExpectNothingGainEverything



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, BAMF Stiles, Derek and Stiles are Mates, Derek is a Good Alpha, First Time, Fluff, Happy Ending, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memory Magic, Oblivious Stiles, Pack Bonding, Pining, Possessive Behavior, Possessive Derek, Post-Season/Series 01 Finale, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Derek, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Slow Burn, Soulmates, Tags May Change, Witchcraft, Witches
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-06-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 04:59:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3637635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ExpectNothingGainEverything/pseuds/ExpectNothingGainEverything
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It started when the pack set out to investigate the possibility of a witch inhabiting the preserve, they found their answer but Derek and Stiles came out of the situation with a slightly problematic side effect. Plagued with visions of the final moments of their past lives, both Derek and Stiles are forced to accept the possibility of their potential tragic fate. But with the help of the pack and an unlikely ally they may find a way to change their fate for the better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The first experience

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is my first time posting in this fandom so I hope this story isn't too terrible lol. Just a forewarning this story does not have a beta so all mistakes are my own and I apologize for them. 
> 
> PTSD is tagged for this story and will be explained in later chapters and the rating is explicit as well due to things that happen in later chapters.
> 
> The Story takes place post Season 1 finale, disregard season 2 ... if you notice anything I should fix please let me know. If I've missed any tags please let me know, also feel free to let me know what you think of the story, all comments are welcome good or bad.

It had been two years since Peter killed Kate and Derek killed Peter, making Derek the new alpha of Beacon Hills. The first thing on Derek’s mind after becoming an alpha was growing his pack, initially he only wanted to do it for power; but it didn’t take long for his reasoning to change from wanting more power to just wanting the sense of having someone to fall back on. What he really wanted was a family, a family that he could create through the bonds of being pack. Within the first three months of Derek being alpha Derek offered the bite to four people, he managed to turn three people successfully into werewolves; first turning Isaac Lahey, then three weeks later Erica Reyes and soon after Vernon Boyd.

Jackson Whittemore would have been Derek’s first werewolf beta but he wound up turning into a Kanima and it was a long and grueling process just to get him to realize what he was and to submit and join the pack. Derek was under the impression Lydia would eventually shift and become a werewolf after Peter attacked her but she wound up making a full recovery, months had passed and on each full moon she showed no symptoms of being anything other than human. She discovered soon after, that she was a Banshee due to her unconscious lure to death and the pack later presumed that was the reason behind her being immune to the bite.

Derek consistently offered Scott a place in his pack but Scott was adamant about not joining, he did anything and everything to remain on his own. But eventually the benefits of having a pack were presented to him first hand and he conceded and submitted to Derek 7 months later. Of course with Scott came Stiles, no questions asked, although Derek wasn’t too thrilled about the loud mouth human teenager joining the pack, he too conceded and went along with Scott’s demands; thus Scott and Stiles were officially members of Derek’s pack.

4 months later Allison and Scott had found their way back to one another; their budding relationship and Allison’s strong desire to ensure Scott was safe at all times, was the reason Allison went to Derek and asked to be a part of his pack. Derek was hesitant due to his distrust for the Argents, but Allison had proven time and time again that she would fight for the pack and protect anyone in it, even if she were to be going against her own family; so Derek accepted her offer and Allison became pack.

“Alright so I’m thinking we need to throw a party for our dear old friendly neighborhood alpha …” Erica said as she entered Derek’s loft to greet the rest of the pack.

Whatever conversation everyone was having stopped immediately, “why?” Boyd asked.

“Is it his birthday or something?” Jackson asked.

“I thought his birthday was in September …” Scott chimed in.

Lydia rolled her eyes, “his birthday is in August.”

Scott nodded, “a month off, whatever … so why are we throwing him a party?”

Erica smirked, “because he actually made it two years without screwing everything up.”

Allison couldn’t help the smile that crept up on her face, “that is a very good point.”

Jackson scoffed, “oh please I bet being an alpha isn’t even that hard.”

“You aren’t even a werewolf and if you were and you happened to be an alpha, you’d probably be responsible for your pack tearing each other’s heads off.” Stiles said.

“What was that Stilinski?” Jackson attempted to bum rush Stiles but Lydia managed to hold him back.

“You realize you are only proving his point …” Isaac said quietly.

Jackson sneered at Isaac, “how so?!?”

Lydia placed herself completely in front of Jackson so his full attention was on her, “maybe because you react violently to the simplest things or because you believe that it’s best for pack to fight out their frustrations rather than take the mature route and talk it out.”

Jackson fell silent while everyone else was having a hard to controlling their laughter, “what’s so funny?” Derek asked as he stepped into his loft.

Everyone managed to gain some control over themselves, “uh nothing we were just talking about the time Stiles was almost made into an appetizer for trolls.” Erica said without giving anything away as she made her way next to Boyd.

Stiles grunted, “I don’t see how that’s funny?”

Derek’s eyebrows furrowed, “But you were laughing too?”

Stiles shrugged off the question, “it doesn’t matter, where were you?”

Derek was more than willing to let go of the subject once he remembered the news he had just fallen upon, “I was out visiting Deaton, we may or may not have some trouble …”

“What kind of trouble?” Allison was the first to ask.

“I don’t know, it probably isn’t trouble at all but then again we have no way to be sure unless we find out …” Derek offered.

Lydia sighed not pleased with the answer, “is it human or supernatural?”

Derek took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, “supernatural … it could be worse than when we got attacked by the trolls.” Derek eyed Stiles.

Stiles huffed, “I doubt that …”

“So do we know what it is?” Allison asked anxiously, Scott placed his hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down.

Derek was silent for a moment before answering, “a witch …”

Lydia’s gasped, “a what?”

“A witch,” Derek answered again.

“Wait, wait, wait, you’re telling me that witches are real? What is this some kind of a joke or is it another one of your crazy training sessions? This isn’t Salem man, there’s no way witches are going around spouting ‘I put a spell on you’ … right?” Jackson asked bewildered.

Stiles couldn’t help the pang of annoyance that hit him, “are you serious Jackson? You turn into a giant lizard, most of your friends are werewolves and your girlfriend is a banshee. Do you honestly think witches are out of the question?”

“Stiles come on, magic isn’t real!” Jackson retorted.

“Dude before I would have said the same thing about werewolves, but guess what … they’re real and I’m one of them …” Scott said.

Jackson relaxed, “fine whatever … can’t believe all the weird shit this town manages to attract.”

“So what’s the plan?” Boyd asked.

“We go out and find her … she’s held up somewhere out in the preserve. Deaton thinks she may have built herself a lair.” Derek explained.

Allison held her arms out, “so what are we supposed to just go out there and find her lair, knock on the front door and ask her what she’s doing?”

Derek nodded seeming satisfied with the suggestion, “something like that.”

“She’s probably going to curse us all to hell …” Isaac said.

Derek looked on at Isaac, “not all of us, Deaton says that as a witch she has the ability to detect other supernatural beings easily, but detecting non supernatural beings is a bit of a challenge.”

The pack looked between Stiles and Allison, “so you’re sending us out there, as sacrifices?” Stiles tensed.

Allison grinned, “we shouldn’t have too much of a problem.”

Stiles huffed, “easy for you to say …”

Allison paced over to Stiles nudging him in the side the second he was within reach, “hey come on Stiles, you’ve been training so much lately and you’re only getting better. Remember our most recent run in with the werecoyotes?”

Stiles sneered at Allison, “what about it?”

Allison simply smiled at Stiles as if he were missing something, “you held your own didn’t you?”

Stiles shrugged, “yeah okay maybe you’re right …”

“I’ll act as back up; I won’t be too far from you.” Derek said looking at Stiles.

Isaac and Boyd shared a look and nodded as if they were having a silent conversation, Erica had a full on grin plastered on her face. Lydia, Scott and Allison all chuckled but shook it off quickly, Jackson appeared perplexed, “how come every time Stilinski is involved in a mission you’re always willing to jump in and put yourself in harm’s way? I mean one of us could go as back up, you are the alpha if they get you then what would we do?”

Lydia pulled a fast one on Jackson and elbowed him hard in the ribs, “you’re such an idiot.”

“Weren’t you the one that said being alpha isn’t hard?” Isaac said, suddenly everyone except Derek and Jackson was laughing.

“Would you rather have me stay behind like a coward or overlook the situation from a safe distance so I can ensure that nothing bad happens to anyone in the pack?” Derek asked.

Jackson took a second to think over Derek’s question before answering, “It’s not being a coward if you stay behind; it’s being smart and utilizing your pack.”

Derek sighed, “And in this situation I am utilizing the pack by sending our human members out to possibly surprise the witch. I’d much rather prefer all of you to be safe than be put into harm’s way. You’re all going to be graduating soon and I’d like us all to be alive to celebrate that occasion. So if and when it comes down to dangerous situations I will always put myself out there before I even think about sending any of you out. That goes double for our human pack members; believe me I’d much rather keep them out of this and go pay the witch a visit myself, but this is the only option I have that might actually work to our advantage and cause the least amount of damage.”

Scott held a look of admiration on his face, “that sounds like a pretty good reason to me.”

“Nice deflection.” Lydia said to herself as she eyed Derek.

“Alright so when is this going down?” Isaac asked.

Derek looked around the room at his pack, eyes landing on Stiles before he answered, “tonight.”

Allison turned towards Scott and smiled before looking back at Stiles and patting him on the shoulder, “alright let’s get going then.”

Stiles nodded and followed Allison towards the front door not before stealing a glance at Derek, “Scott you’re with me, Isaac, Jackson and Boyd you’ll scope out the area around the witches lair and eliminate any possibility of a surprise attack should there be one. Lydia and Erica hold back and make sure no one follows us.” Derek ordered. Everyone nodded in understanding and followed Allison and Stiles out of the loft.

The witch must have been staying in the preserve for a few days, maybe even weeks; but Stiles figured if it had been weeks someone in the pack would have noticed when they were scouting the territory for any immanent threats. Everything about this specific area in the preserve seemed a little more menacing than need be; the trees were twisted in a way that seemed creepy and it seemed like the only thing living in these parts of the woods were bats and insects straight out of a horror film. ”Is it me or did it get really eerie all of the sudden?” Stiles asked following closely behind Allison who was clutching onto her crossbow.

“It’ll be fine Stiles we just have to find this place, ask the witch what she’s doing here and-hey wait … I think … I think I see something up ahead.” Allison ducked down dragging Stiles along with her, she gazed around the area and noticed two things, there was what looked like a small hut lodged in between two big trees and there was someone moving around in it. “That has to be it … are you ready?” Allison asked looking Stiles over.

Stiles took a deep breath, closed his eyes and focused on what needed to be done before exhaling and opening his eyes hoping he held a look of determination on his face, “yeah, let’s do this.”

Allison nodded and the two of them got up and walked as quietly as possible to the front door. Allison held her crossbow up ready to fire; she looked at Stiles and flicked her head towards the front door in a gesture for him to knock. Stiles complied; he knocked twice and backed away, unsheathing the two daggers that were strapped to his waist. The witch wasted no time answering the door as it cracked open and someone peered around, “who are you?” the witch asked, her face was covered by the hood of her cloak.

Allison stood her ground and held her crossbow, ready to fire if need be, “we are a part of the Hale pack, we watch over Beacon Hills. What business do you have here?”

“The Hale pack, but you are mere humans …” The witch rasped.

“And we are still pack,” Stiles spoke up.

The witch said nothing for a few moments, suddenly the door opened all the way revealing what Stiles assumed was a 5’6 woman covered in a long black cloak, her age was up for debate as he could not see her face, “boy, what is your name?” the witch asked.

Allison aimed her crossbow at the witch’s head, “don’t come any closer,” Allison threatened.

The witch held up her hand and Allison was suddenly pushed backwards through the air, she slammed against one of the twisted trees and lost hold of her crossbow before she fell to the ground and fell unconscious. “Boy I will not ask you again … who are you?” The witch questioned Stiles again, inching closer towards him.

Stiles thought back to before, shortly after Derek became alpha; in this situation Stiles would have retreated and gone somewhere for cover, but not now, now he was trained and ready to fight; “Stiles … Stiles Stilinski.” Stiles said holding his two daggers out in front of himself, signifying he was ready for a fight.

“Stilinski …” the witch said as if she were awe struck, she stepped a little closer to Stiles.

Stiles kept his breathing steady and remained focused waiting for the witch to possibly make the first move, “stay back.”

The witch eventually held up both her hands as if she were surrendering, “do not fear me boy, I am your ally.” The witch said removing the hood of her cloak to reveal a middle aged woman. Her skin was like a polished mahogany and her hair was a mess of neat curls gathered into a bun on her head. “My name is Mae … I believe I knew your mother.”

Stiles mouth popped open and he slightly lowered his guard, “you-you knew my mom?”

Mae nodded, “yes I believe so … you resemble her so much.”

Stiles shook his head and held his daggers back up, “my mom is dead.”

Mae nodded, “I know … she was cursed.”

“No, my mom died from frontotemporal Dementia! Why are you here?!” Stiles asked growing agitated.

“Ah that is what the doctors told you right? But do you honestly believe that was what it was? Your mother should have been in her early thirties when she departed this earth; she was far too young to have contracted the disease.” Mae explained. Stiles breath hitched, Mae took notice, “ah so you do hold some doubt towards her cause of death.”

Stiles licked his lips, “why are you here?”

Mae turned back towards her hut, “I was under the impression you were dead young Nepheliam. Come, we have much to discuss …” Mae said walking into her hut. Stiles was about to run over and check on Allison but Mae’s voice stopped him dead in his tracks, “LEAVE THE GIRL! She will be fine … come in now there isn’t much time.”

Stiles sheathed his daggers and followed Mae into the little hut; the minute he entered Stiles was taken aback. “How is this place so big but it looks so small on the outside?” Stiles asked awe struck. The little hut was more like a big one story house that could most likely fit a family of five in it.

Mae waved her hand at him gesturing Stiles to follow her, “it is a simple spell, come, sit.” Mae said pointing to a couch that sat next to a bookshelf, fool of books and what looked like potions.

Stiles took a seat as Mae sat directly across from him in a rocking chair, “how do you know my name?”

“As I said I knew your mother and I knew her for quite some time.” Mae explained.

“Did my mom know you’re a witch?” Mae nodded in response. Stiles held his breath for a moment, “my mom didn’t know about supernatural stuff though.”

Mae held up a finger, “you’re wrong, she did know of the supernatural. She knew everything there is to know about the supernatural-“

“How?!” Stiles interrupted.

“Well when you’re a part of the supernatural world it is hard to turn a blind eye to it.”

Suddenly it felt like Stiles had the wind knocked out of him, “what-what?”

Mae tilted her head, “you really didn’t know? Did she not leave you a letter explaining what she was?”

Stiles shook his head, “obviously not …”

Mae looked down in utter disappointment, “oh well that’s unfortunate to hear. Your mother was a witch and a very powerful one at that.”

“My mom was a what? No … NO, my mom was human she … she-“ Stiles break down was interrupted when the front door was kicked in and a very angry, very menacing Derek Hale walked in.

“Ah I was wondering when you were going to show up.” Mae said as if she wasn’t fazed by Derek’s entrance. She lifted her hand and her front door righted itself and went back in place, slamming behind Derek.

Derek growled and allowed his eyes to bleed the deepest shade of red, “Stiles come here.” Derek ordered.

Stiles looked torn between staying where he was and getting answers and following his Alpha’s orders, “Derek please … please wait” Stiles pleaded he turned his attention back to Mae “tell me about my mom.”

Mae pointed at the spot next to Stiles, “Derek come over here and have a seat you need to hear this.”

Derek clenched his fist and growled, “Stiles come here now.”

Suddenly Mae turned her hand towards Derek and next thing he knew he was being drug across the room and seated next to Stiles, “I said have a seat!” Mae commanded, Stiles stood the minute Derek was placed next to him ready to draw his daggers; “it’s okay, no one’s going to get hurt as long as we play nice.” Mae said.

“No you will tell us why you’re here!” Derek roared as he stood and tried to make his way over to Mae, Stiles attempted to stop him but Mae was the one to bring him down. She flicked her hand forward pushing Derek back taking Stiles with him, they both hit the bookshelf, rattling it. Mae managed to steady the bookshelf with her magic for the most part but one of the potions placed on the shelf still managed to fall and break between Stiles and Derek. A mist was released from the glass and traveled into both Derek and Stiles noses; Derek shook his head trying to clear whatever it was he just inhaled. Stiles simply wiped under his nose and got back up.

“What was that?” Stiles asked.

Mae looked down at the neon blue formula on the floor, “ho-ho you two got lucky, that’s simply a memory potion. The two of you have inhaled the fumes so you may start recalling things you have forgotten. What kind of memories you experience will soon be revealed; I would say you’ll most likely see visions of your-oh no … they’re here!” Mae said becoming erratic. “I will see you again soon young Nepheliam, Derek you keep him safe until our next meeting!” Suddenly the hut-house began to shake and in an instant everything disappeared and Stiles and Derek were back outside between the two large trees where the hut-house was lodged between.

Derek looked around frantically trying to figure out what was going on, Stiles simply fell down on his knees and sighed heavily. “Stiles who was she? STILES?!” Derek questioned.

“She said her name was Mae …” Stiles said a bit defeated. Stiles looked around and then noticed Allison being cradled by Scott; he quickly got up and ran over to her, leaving Derek behind to look for answers on his own. The minute he was close enough to them he realized that she was conscious again.

“Stiles … what happened?” Allison asked the minute she noticed Stiles approaching.

Scott looked up at his best friend, “you okay buddy?”

Stiles patted Scott’s back, “yeah I’m fine …”

Scott helped Allison up, he quickly pulled Stiles in for a hug and checked him over to make sure nothing was wrong; “we lost your scent it was like … one minute you were here then the next thing you know you were gone. Derek flipped … so we rushed to get here as fast as we could.”

Stiles eyebrows furrowed, “you lost my scent or both of our scents?”

Scott shook his head, “just yours, although now that I think about it Derek’s scent disappeared too as soon as he went into the hut.”

Stiles shrugged, “it was probably some kind of spell to-“

“Stiles you need to tell me what happened.” Derek interrupted as he walked up behind them.

Stiles turned around and sighed, “I told you, she said her name was Mae. She-she said she knew stuff about my mom.”

Derek held onto Stiles forearm, “how? Why did she act like she knew who I was? Who is Nepheliam?”

Stiles drew back his arm from Derek’s grasp, “I don’t know damn it! I would have found out if you didn’t try to rip her head off when I was trying to get answers!”

Derek grunted and swiped at his face, “she put you in danger!”

Stiles scoffed, “did I look like I was in danger Derek?”

Derek growled ready to turn their argument into a shouting match, “Wait how did she know your real name?” Scott asked suddenly.

Stiles shook his head again, “I don’t know …” Stiles noticed that he was starting to feel really heavy, “maybe she … maybe she …” soon after his vision began to waver and he was having a difficult time standing upright.

Scott noticed the sudden change in Stiles behavior instantly, “Stiles?”

“Ma-maybe …“ Stiles struggled, suddenly everything went black, it seemed like someone might have pulled the floor out from underneath Stiles feet.

_When he came to there were three things he noticed, the first thing was that he was in a cave, the second thing was that he had no control over his actions and the third was the he couldn’t exactly feel anything. It was like he was having an out of body experience, only he wasn’t exactly outside of his body just trapped inside of his own with no control; his eyes becoming a window with a clear view of the past, only Stiles definitely did not recognize the setting at all. He thought back to what Mae had said about the memory potion and immediately pegged this whole experience as a direct side effect of the potion._

_Stiles watched as the scene unfolded right before his eyes. There was a strong blizzard going on outside, the wind whistled loudly and covered the caves opening with snow; there was a small fire going on next to him, suddenly he stood up and noticed that he placed his hand on his stomach, Stiles could only assume he must have been hungry._

_His body suddenly started to turn and Stiles noticed he had been examining the cave, it was massive, a perfect place for cover he just hoped nothing was living in the cave before he got there. Suddenly he looked down and grabbed whatever it was he used to cover himself and keep warm. By the looks of it, it was some kind of animal that was skinned so the fur could be put to use; Stiles couldn’t really tell what kind of animal it was though. Regardless, ‘why was he using animal fur to keep warm, why not use a jacket; why was he naked?’ Stiles thought to himself._

_Suddenly he turned and noticed a figure standing at the cave entrance, it was another man covered in covered a fur coat similar to what Stiles was using. Stiles couldn’t really make out his face until the stranger stepped into the light of the fire and removed the hood of his fur coat revealing a man who looked like Derek’s identical twin just a little hairier. His hair was shoulder length and his facial hair was long and it seemed a bit unkempt; regardless of his current appearance there was no way Stiles wouldn’t recognize this man as anyone other than Derek Hale. Suddenly his body rushed toward the other man, his arms wrapped themselves around the man’s neck hugging him as if he were delighted to see him. The man (Derek) reciprocated the action, wrapping one arm around Stiles waist. The man quickly let him go and held up something he had been carrying with him, it looked like a huge boar but its shape was off._

_Whatever it was it made him giddy with excitement as he took the boar and ran over to the fire and prepared to cook it. The man let his fur coat hang off his shoulders and Stiles noticed then that the man was completely naked and the fur coat was all that was covering him up. He kneeled down next to Stiles helping him prepare the boar stealing a glance every now and then._

_Stiles noticed that he and this man (Derek) must have been very close because they sat fairly close to one another while eating and afterward the man was very caring when it came to cleaning Stiles up, Stiles noticed he was the same way towards the man. Shortly after eating and cleaning up, the man caressed his cheek and Stiles could have sworn he was about to kiss him but suddenly he was no longer in the cave. He and the man were outside in what looked to be an expansive plain covered in melting snow; wherever they were they must have been in some serious danger judging by the frightened expression the man gave Stiles as the ran from whatever was chasing them. The man was dragging Stiles along by his forearm, his strong hand wrapped firmly around Stiles wrist as they bolted across the plains; the minute Stiles questioned what they were running from his body turned around to reveal a group of elephants._

_“Those aren’t elephants their bodied are covered in fur, are those woolly mammoths?!” Stiles asked himself. The group of mammoths were stampeding behind them and if they didn’t get out of the way they were sure to be trampled. They turned in many different directions, but the mammoths only seemed to follow them; Stiles couldn’t figure out why they wouldn’t get off their tail, had they done something to cause the stampede? That’s when Stiles remembered the fur that was used in the cave; the same fur he was currently wearing, the fur was the same color as the mammoths behind him; the same could be said for the man’s fur as well._

_Stiles could only assume that their fur must have belonged to baby mammoths and the sight of the man and Stiles wearing them must have set them off. Stiles body had swung around again to get a look at where the mammoths were positioned but suddenly he was falling, he had been drug over a cliff along with the man; only the man managed to hold onto the arm he was dragging Stiles around by and hold him up so that he didn’t fall to his death. Suddenly Stiles was looking down, the sight alone would have terrified him if this were a real experience; they were extremely high up and there was no water at the bottom of this cliff to possibly save them from the fall, just another endless plain. Stiles then looked back up and as if on cue the mammoths came toppling over one by one all falling past both the man and Stiles. In their blind rage the mammoths probably weren’t able to will themselves to stop until the cause of their rage was taken out._

_There had to be at least a dozen mammoths that fell past them before it finally stopped. Stiles risked a glance down below only to see the carcasses of the many mammoths that fell passed them. He suddenly began to struggle and the man swung Stiles to a nearby ledge that he could grab on to. Stiles realized he was holding onto the ledge for dear life, he looked over at the man who was gesturing for him to try and climb up behind him, Stiles knew he nodded in understanding and followed the man a short ways up the ledge before one of the rocks the man tried grabbing onto gave way and he lost his balance and fell over. Stiles reached out and grabbed onto the man’s outstretched hand and tried with all his might to hold onto one of the rocks on the ledge. The man must have noticed that the rock was giving way under the weight of both of them and he tried to force Stiles to drop him but Stiles wouldn’t let go, the man tried desperately to get Stiles to let him go grunting and protesting rampantly but Stiles just held onto him as long as he could._

_Stiles realized his body turned to sneak a glance at the rock he was holding onto before turning back around to look at the man. Suddenly it was like a sense of understanding overcame the man, his face seemed haunted but he was at ease and he stopped protesting, Stiles on the other hand was screaming at himself, screaming for some kind of help. But he realized once again this was not his body, it wasn’t a real world experience, it was what he presumed to be nothing more than a memory that happened sometime in the past and all he could do was watch and wait for the outcome. Stiles stopped screaming and just looked on as the scene unfolded right in before his eyes, the man’s (Derek) green eyes shined brighter than he had ever seen them before and the face that Stiles knew to always carry a brooding expression was now smiling as if it was the best day of his life._

_Stiles noticed his vision started getting blurry as tears began to fall from his eyes, seconds later he could only assume he let go of the ledge because he was being pulled into the embrace of the man as they fell towards the bottom of the ravine._

Stiles felt someone shaking him and screaming for him to wake up, “STILES, STILES PLEASE WAKE UP!”

Stiles was wailing as he shot up, and looked around, “What … what’s going on?” he noticed he was back in his room and that his dad was standing next to his bed and he looked absolutely terrified. “Da-Dad what happened?” Stiles asked trying to catch his breath.

“You were screaming like a maniac, I thought someone was in here trying to kill you!” His father said frantically.

Stiles popped his mouth open trying very hard to catch his breath, “no … no, I uh I just had a nightmare that’s all. I’m sorry dad, I didn’t mean to scare you … how-how was work?” Stiles asked noticing his father was still dressed up in his uniform.

“Work was fine son, are you sure you’re okay? I have to go back out, I just got a call about some kind of disturbance down by the school … I don’t want to leave if you’re not okay.” Stiles dad said.

Stiles waved his father off, “dad I’m fine” Stiles said very unconvincingly, his father held a stern look; “I’m serious dad I’ll be okay, I’m gonna get up and eat some ice cream or something and try and clear my head. Then I’ll try to go back to sleep … is that okay?”

Stiles father nodded, “you’re sure you’re okay? Was this nightmare about anything in particular; is it anything I need to be worried about?”

Stiles shook his head frantically, “no dad seriously I was just dreaming about a serial killer trying to rip my guts out and feed them to his family …”

Stiles father relaxed at that, he released a heavy sigh and turned towards Stiles bedroom door, “I told you about watching horror movies before you go to bed … no more Texas Chainsaw Massacre for a week! Do you understand? You nearly gave me a heart attack kid.”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “yeah whatever, sorry dad. Go to work, don’t wanna be late.”

“Stiles I’m the Sherriff I can be fashionably late if the situation calls for it,” Stiles father gave him a pointed look, “get up and eat your ice cream or whatever you’re going to do and get back to bed you have school in a few hours. I’ll see you later kid, don’t do anything I wouldn’t … and don’t watch any horror movies!”

“There’s not much you wouldn’t do!” Stiles called after his father as he made his way out the front door and into his squad car. Stiles heard him start the car up and peel off down the road, he got up from his bed and headed towards the bathroom and took a good look at himself in the mirror, “what the fuck was that?” Stiles asked himself. He examined every part of his body to make sure everything was where it needed to be before he exited the bathroom. The minute he clicked the bathroom light off he noticed red eyes beaming in through his bedroom window, he flinched back at first unsure of who it was but once he took a closer look he realized it was Derek.

He was hesitant to unlock the window given the dream he had just had but Derek would have found another way in anyway and Stiles didn’t want to have to explain to his father why it seemed like someone may have broken into their house. So he walked over, unlatched the window and opened it up, he backed away immediately as Derek began to crawl in.

Derek didn’t say anything to him he just stood in place glaring at him as if he was going to disappear in any moment. The silence was becoming too overbearing for Stiles, “wha-what happened?” Derek huffed and gave no answer, “Derek what the hell happened out in the pres-“ Stiles was going to move toward Derek to fish for answers but Derek growled deeply and Stiles froze instantly.

“Don’t you dare move …” Derek said in a low menacing tone.

Stiles took a small step backwards, “what’s going on?”

“I SAID DON’T MOVE! Just. Stay. There. Please.” Derek said. Stiles realized right then and there that Derek was fighting for control.

Stiles waited a few moments before asking, “Did something happen to you while I was out?”

“Nothing happened that you don’t already know …” Derek took a deep breath and exhaled gaining a little bit more control over his wolf, “both of us passed out in the preserve, the pack took us back … apparently we’ve been out for a little more than 4 hours.”

Stiles glanced at the clock that was sitting on his nightstand; it was a little passed 3:30 in the morning. “So we just passed out, just like that? No cause as to why?” Stiles asked.

“I killed us …” Derek said softly.

Stiles recoiled at the statement, “you what?”

“I couldn’t keep you safe … and I got us killed.” Derek’s breathing began to get heavier.

“Derek … dude what the fuck are you talking about?”

Derek started to laugh, he wasn’t laughing at Stiles he was laughing because he was hysterical, “I-I … I had this dream … I thought it was maybe just another freaky nightmare but I remembered what the witch said before she disappeared, about the memory potion and I figured that it had to be a memory only-“

“Only it was a memory you hadn’t experienced? Everything was out of the ordinary like we went back to the stone ages, when woolly mammoths were around?” Stiles interrupted.

Derek’s hysterics stopped instantly, “the cave?”

“The plains and the stampede of mammoths and the cliff we fell over.” Stiles finished.

“Then you saw everything?” Derek asked.

Stiles sighed and scratched his head, “I guess … there were parts that got cut out though, one minute I was in the cave with … with you and the next we were running from the stampede.”

Derek took a small step towards Stiles, “then you know I was the reason we died?”

Stiles shrugged, “does it matter? It happened already it’s done and over with … we don’t even know if it was a real memory or not.”

Derek inched a little closer, “it seemed a little too real to me.”

“So you think it really was a memory? Of what, our past lives? How exactly does that work? How can we experience something that we haven’t experienced in this life? And why exactly were we together in the past if that’s the case?” Stiles questioned.

Derek shook his head his eyes finally returned to their original color, “I don’t know … but we’re going to Deaton’s later on, make sure you’re ready by the time I get here.” He turned towards Stiles window ready to leave without another word.

Stiles flinched, “Derek I have school today …”

Derek looked back at Stiles like he was stupid, “I know, I’m driving you there and I’m picking you up when you get out and we’re going to Deaton’s after.”

“Derek I have a jeep … I can drive myself, I don’t-“ Stiles was interrupted when Derek walked back across the room and shoved him back against the wall; his eyes were once again a mesmerizing deep shade of red.

“I don’t care about your fucking jeep Stiles; I’ll tear the starter out and make it to where you can’t drive the damn thing at all.” Derek threatened. “ I’m driving you to school and I’m picking you up, got it?” Derek asked placing his hands on the wall at either side of Stiles locking him where he was.

“Ye-yeah I got it big guy, no problem … just don’t tear my starter out okay?” Stiles asked shakily.

Derek smirked and leaned in and sniffed down the length of Stiles neck "you smell so good ..." he whispered before he retreated and in an instant he was out the window and out of sight.

Stiles was bug eyed as he slid down the wall onto the floor, he sat there for what seemed like an eternity contemplating the events that just occurred before he finally managed to ask, “what the fuck was that?”

 

 

 

 

 


	2. A piece of the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles and Derek both experience another instance in their past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I probably should further explain how Stiles and Derek experience their memories; they see it like they're looking from their own two eyes. Only problem is they have no control over their bodies and they can't necessarily feel anything, basically it's like watching a movie only it's more like a first person POV.
> 
> Hope that helps, oh and all errors are mine again this has no beta. Feel free to let me know of any mistakes and let me know if you have any questions :)

Stiles never did go downstairs to grab his ice cream; he actually didn’t even manage to get back to sleep. Plagued with questions, he stayed up the rest of the night researching and browsing the web searching for some kind of answers to his questions. Questions about witches, memory potions, his dreams and his mother and the potential curse placed on her. He came up with nothing, he found a few webpages that seemed a little useful with information on memory potions but there was no real definite answer.

Stiles starred at his computer screen gnawing his lip, beating himself up over wasting hours and getting no answers, “figures something like this would happen to me.” Stiles said to himself; the house phone rang knocking Stiles out of his thoughts; he rushed downstairs to retrieve it. “Hello?” Sties answered anxiously.

“Hey kid, you up and getting ready for school?” Stiles dad answered.

Stiles looked around his house and noticed that it wasn’t exactly pitch black outside anymore, the sun had just begun to peek over the horizon. Stiles glanced at the microwave clock and saw that it was already 6:50 in the morning, “ye-yeah dad um I was about to jump in the shower actually.” Stiles stammered doing his best to keep his voice even; he silently reprimanded himself for losing track of time.

“Alright well I’ll let you go then, have a good day … and Stiles, if you have anything you want to talk to me about … anything at all, you can come to me. I’m here for you … always.” The Sherriff said clearly struggling to get the words out without sounding to cheesy.

Stiles nodded and sighed into the phone, “okay dad but I’m fine, trust me … are you going to be home later on?”

“I should be, what’s for dinner?” The sheriff questioned.

“Grilled chicken with extra vegetables,” Stiles said elated, he heard his father grunt on the other end of the line.

“Now come on Stiles we can eat something that isn’t necessarily healthy for once, let’s get take-out.” The Sheriff suggested.

Stiles rubbed his forehead, “Do you want to have a heart attack?”

“Stiles-“

“I gotta go dad, I’ll see you when I get home, hope you’re ready for some healthy eating!” Stiles finished. He heard his father protesting and calling his name before he hung up the phone. He bolted back upstairs and into his bathroom, started up the shower, quickly threw off all of his clothes he had on from last night and got in. The water felt amazing, Stiles had no idea he had been so tense, the warm water helped soothe that.

He grabbed his soap and shampoo, quickly washed up and rinsed himself off, some of the shampoo managed to get into his eyes. “Ow shit … I hate when that happens.” Stiles said shoving his face back under the water to help alleviate the pain in his eyes and get rid of whatever shampoo might have been left on his face.

After ten minutes he jumped out of the shower, dried himself off, brushed his teeth, put on some deodorant threw on some clean underwear and a t-shirt, grabbed a pair of jeans and a sweater; and he was ready for school. He checked the clock next to his bed; it was only 7:20 leaving him plenty of time to get school. Stiles checked around for his cell phone, it wasn’t in his pants pocket from the night before and it wasn’t anywhere on his still messy bed. He took another glance at his nightstand and there next to the clock was his phone, and it had been plugged into the charger. He opened it up and noticed he had more than a few new messages and 14 missed calls. He decided to check his text messages first:

**_Scott: Please be okay_ **

**_Scott: We had to take you home so your dad didn’t ask questions_ **

**_Scott: Please wake up_ **

**_Scott: Please don’t die_ **

**_Erica: You better not die on us_ **

**_Isaac: Call or text us if you wake up and aren’t coming to school we’ll get your homework … Hope you’re okay._ **

**_Lydia: I’m assuming no one has told you what happened last night so here’s what I know, both you and Derek passed out at the same time. Isaac, Scott, Jackson and Boyd helped carry you guys back to the cars. We were originally going to visit Deaton and leave you at Derek’s but Scott said your dad might start asking questions about where you are so we had to take you home. Boyd was the one to get you inside, in case you were wondering and he said he put your phone on the charger so it wouldn’t be dead when you woke up. Scott, Isaac and Jackson went back into the preserve to search for any trace of the witch but apparently she’s completely vanished as if she were never there. We left Derek at Deaton’s … I hope you wake up soon._ **

**_Isaac: Derek just woke up screaming your name, are you okay??_ **

**_Scott: Are you awake???!!!_ **

**_Scott: Stiles?!_ **

**_Scott: Derek is awake Isaac said he’s not in control and when he woke up he was screaming for you._ **

**_Erica: Is Derek with you? Are you even awake? Did you die?_ **

**_Jackson: Stilinski what the fuck is going on?_ **

**_Scott: Derek said you’re awake, why aren’t you answering your phone??!!_ **

**_Scott: Everyone is freaking out, why won’t you answer?!_ **

**_Allison: I hope you’re okay, I don’t think Scott got any sleep, please call. We’re worried about you; if you don’t show up to school we’ll stop by your house at lunch to check on you._ **

Stiles stopped reading his messages after that and called Scott immediately, “STILES?!” Scott screamed into the phone.

“Hey buddy … uh sorry about not answering you earlier, I was kind of distracted.” Stiles said a little ashamed he had put his friends through so much distress.

“We thought you were dead!” Scott yelled.

Stiles laughed nervously, “nope still alive, some freaky shit went on … I don’t know how to explain it.”

“Freaky shit? Are you okay? Did Derek come see you? Are you coming to school?” Scott asked.

Stiles nodded, “yeah I’m coming to school, I’m about to leave now … I’ll see you soon.”

“Wait Stiles, you didn’t answer my other questions!” Scott protested.

“I’ll see you soon.” Stiles hung up afterward, he felt his phone vibrate and presumed it was a message from Scott but he didn’t bother to read it over. He threw some socks on, ran downstairs put on his shoes and grabbed his backpack and the keys to his jeep before making his way to the front door. He opted to make himself some breakfast but figured if he made it to school in time he could get something there. He walked out to his driveway, opened the door to his jeep and threw his backpack in; the second he himself was about to get into the jeep he heard someone clear their throat.

“What are you doing?” Derek asked leaning against his Camaro.

Stiles turned around too fast and almost lost his footing, “De-Derek?! What are you doing here?”

Derek crossed his arms over his chest, “I thought I told you I was taking you to school.”

Stiles staggered back, “I thought … I thought that was- wait … did you take my starter out?”

Derek sighed, “no …” he uncrossed his arms and strode over to Stiles, “but I can make an arrangement.” Derek said leaning in close to Stiles.

Stiles breathe hitched, he felt his heart pumping a million miles a minute; with Derek being so close he couldn’t help but think of the dream and the man who tried everything to keep him safe. There was no mistaking it, Derek was the man, Stiles pictured the way the man looked and put it to Derek; they were a spitting image of one another. Stiles calmed down at the thought and a small smile crept on his face, Derek noticed immediately. “Something you find amusing?” Derek asked.

Stiles started chuckling, “you looked funny with all that hair on you.”

Derek didn’t seem to find the statement funny, “what are you talking about?”

Stiles laughed a little harder, “the dream, the way you looked … it was kind of funny if I put that look on you now.” Stiles said between hysterics.

Derek started breathing heavily, “you didn’t look any better …”

Stiles stopped laughing, his curiosity piqued, “what?”

Now Derek was the one with a smile on his face, a sight that never ceased to surprise Stiles because it rarely ever happened, “you were hairy too … you look funny with a whole bunch of facial hair.”

Stiles was awestruck for a moment, before squinting his eyes at Derek, “okay haha jokes on me then, are you taking me to school or not?”

Derek nodded, “are you going to get your stuff out of your jeep?”

Stiles rolled his eyes and turned around to grab his backpack out of his jeep, “you don’t have to be a smartass about it.” Stiles mumbled as he walked by Derek towards the passenger side of his Camaro.

Derek shoved his hands into his leather jackets pockets, “I was just asking a question …”

Stiles scoffed standing next to the passenger door, “can you just unlock the doors and take me to school please?”

Derek walked around towards the driver’s side and purposefully waited a minute before unlocking the passenger door he found that Stiles growing irritation was very amusing. Eventually he unlocked the passenger door allowing Stiles to get in, “don’t touch anything.”

Stiles huffed, “wouldn’t want to damage ‘the precious.” Stiles said doing his best Gollum impersonation.

Derek sneered at Stiles, “what the fuck was that?”

Stiles flinched, “do you not know the Lord of The Rings?”

Derek tiled his head to the side, “what?”

Stiles scoffed again, “gah fuck it just drive me to school.” Derek stayed put, expecting something more from Stiles; Stiles eventually caught on, “PLEASE!”

Derek smirked at him as he faced forward started up his car and drove off towards the school. To say the ride was awkward would be a massive understatement, Derek kept sneaking glances at Stiles and Stiles kept sneaking glances at Derek; neither would say a word to the other. To make matters worse Stiles kept fidgeting and it appeared to make Derek uncomfortable, which caused him to drive a little bit faster than necessary. By the time they arrived to Stiles school he peered out the window and immediately noticed the pack out in front of the school next to the parking lot.

He sighed racking his brain over how to explain what happened, “you know with the way you drive my dad would probably have a deputy follow you everywhere you go.”

Derek stiffened up at the comment, “I don’t usually drive like that.”

Stiles started to gnaw at his lip, “then why the sudden change.”

“… I wanted to get you to school on time?” Derek said it more like a question, but Stiles knew he was lying.

“Is something wrong?”

“Stiles just get out of the car! I’ll pick you up when school lets out …” Derek ordered.

Stiles didn’t budge, “how come you just don’t have someone from the pack take me to Deaton’s and I can meet you there?”

Derek grunted, “because …”

“Because why?” Stiles pressed.

Derek turned himself so that he was facing Stiles completely, “because I said so …” he leaned over and opened Stiles door for him, “now get out and go to class.”

Stiles unbuckled his seatbelt, “geez you think you can maybe be less of our sourwolf next time?”

“STILES!”

Stiles held his hands up, “okay, okay I’m going …” he let himself out. The pack knew he was there the minute Derek’s Camaro pulled into the parking lot. The second Stiles got out of the car they were all looking to him expectantly. He strode over to where they were and opted to stand and chat with them and explain what happened, but something in the back of his head was telling him otherwise. “Hey guys …” Stiles said hesitantly, each of them nodded, waiting for him to say something.

“Why did Derek drive you to school?” Jackson asked.

Stiles shrugged, “he said he wanted to drive me, didn’t really give me a reason why though …” Stiles looked at each one of them, their eyes all revealing how eager they were to find out the situation and what happened, “I’m going to go get something to eat before the cafeteria stops serving …” Stiles said waving as he walked past all of them. He noticed that every one of them shared the same shocked expression, except Scott he seemed more mad than anything. Stiles raced to the cafeteria hoping none of them would follow him but his hopes were dashed the minute he felt someone walk up behind him and place a hand on his shoulder.

“Stiles …” Scott said flatly.

Stiles turned around slowly, “hey buddy …”

Scott’s entire being radiated with anger and concern, “what’s going on?”

Stiles shook his head, “nothing much … nothing I can really explain anyway.”

Scott grabbed Stiles other shoulder and dragged him to the boys bathroom, “Stiles what’s going on?!”

Stiles shook Scott’s hands off of him, “look Scott seriously I don’t know alright … Derek wants to go to Deaton’s after school and find out though …”

Scott seemed bewildered at the statement, “he didn’t tell any of us this …”

Stiles shrugged, “it’s kind of personal?”

Scott appeared peeved, “personal? Stiles I’m your best friend and you’re mine … there is nothing that’s too personal between us.”

Stiles huffed, “I beg to differ Scotty, listen I’ll fill you in on everything as soon as I know. I tried all night trying to figure something out and came up with nothing; so if I don’t know anything I can’t answer anything but I’m going to figure something out eventually … until then maybe you could not pressure me for questions, alright? Run that by the rest of the pack too,” Stiles said as he walked out of the bathroom back towards the cafeteria. Scott remained in the restroom a little shell shocked and more concerned than he was before.

The day progressed normally for the most part; he managed to make it through half of his classes perfectly fine. Of course in every class was a member of the pack and Stiles assumed Scott put the word out as they each respected his wishes in not questioning him about what was going on. That didn’t mean they couldn’t feel worried about him, Stiles knew just by the way each one of them looked at him. Even Jackson asked if he was doing okay and he hardly ever does that unless it’s something serious.

It was just about time for lunch, Stiles found himself in his AP Government/U.S. History, seated next to Lydia and Boyd sat in front of them. Mr. Harburt was lost in a lecture going on about recent Supreme Court rulings and his opinions on the Judge’s statements. There was about a half hour of class left before they would be let out for lunch that’s when he felt it; first his vision began to waver and the words Mr. Harburt was saying started to seem slurred, his body suddenly became extremely heavy and he was having a hard time sitting upright; then it was as if the room began to spin, and just like the last time he felt like the floor seemed to fall out from under him and then everything was black.

_When Stiles was conscious again he found himself back in the same state as when he had his dream. He was once again using his eyes as a window to the past; Stiles found himself waking up in some kind of hut, a small girl had run into his room and began jumping up and down cheering for something. Stiles noticed she never used any words, she mostly hummed or grunted; She seemed cute her hair was a wild mess and her face was a little dirty; her skin was fair, maybe a little darker than Stiles. Stiles noticed that she was dressed in furs similar to what he wore in his previous dream. Stiles watched as he got up and took the little girl’s hand and went outside, there was some kind of gathering around a big fire. Stiles noticed that he was in some kind of village; the scenery where the village was set was very beautiful, trees, rivers and plains could be seen for miles. It was a sight that showed all Mother Nature had to offer, everything being untarnished by mankind. Stiles assumed the village was placed on a very high hill or mini mountain. The sight in its entirety was very calming._

_People in the village were dancing around the flames cheering for something; That’s when Stiles noticed a huge carcass being carried towards the fire, as it got closer the people cheered louder. It was a sight to behold, Stiles caught a glance of the creature, he recognized it as a ground sloth something that has been long extinct in his time. The people cheered loudly as the carcass was sat in front of the fire, the little girl pointed towards the dead animal and someone waved at them; Stiles could only assume it was her mother. She was beautiful with long dark hair and lightly tanned skin; she wore a minimal amount of furs and for some reason the woman reminded Stiles of Derek. ‘At least it’s not Derek … how awkward would that be.’ Stiles thought to himself, the little girl let go of his hand and ran over to the woman, she was swooped up and spun around the minute she got to her. The woman looked back to Stiles holding the girl who was now waving at him, ‘is that my daughter?’ Stiles asked himself but he knew it couldn’t be, the girl held no resemblance towards him._

_The woman was also waving at him; she turned around and pointed at something towards the direction the carcass came from. Stiles looked to where the woman was pointing and standing there from a distance was a figure, Stiles body suddenly began to run towards the figure. He ran for what seemed like miles until the figure started coming into view, it was a man, Stiles could tell by his stature and his physique. As Stiles got closer he noticed the man was carrying a spear, he was hurt but it was nothing that was life threatening, it looked like a flesh wound that was just above his hip. Stiles honed in on the man’s face trying desperately to figure out who this man was and what he meant to him._

_The second Stiles was close enough to see the man’s face he knew it was none other than Derek. He appeared the same way he did in his last dream only his hair was pulled back and his facial hair wasn’t out of control and messy, the furs he wore were different as well. Stiles watched as he ran up to Derek and hugged him, knocking him back a few steps as he dropped his spear and grabbed onto Stiles. Derek held Stiles up against his muscular chest clearly elated to be reunited, if Stiles was hurting him Stiles wouldn’t know for Derek showed no signs of pain. Suddenly Stiles was leaning forward and his forehead was resting against Derek’s forehead, he looked into his eyes and they appeared to be just as beautiful as the last time he looked into them while they were hanging off of a cliff._

_In that instance nothing would be able to convince Stiles that he wasn’t about to kiss Derek, but just like the last time, his vision was cut off and suddenly he was outside again and in yet another bad situation. It must have been a new day because the sun was high in the sky; the village huts were on fire, women were screaming and children were crying; people were fighting one another left and right. Stiles could only assume they were under some kind of attack, suddenly he was looking around, searching for something. He picked up a spear that was probably thrown by someone and next thing he knew he was jabbing it into the gut of an unknown man who was ready to strike him with what looked like a tooth that had been sharpened to further resemble a dagger._

_Stiles noticed he was being dragged away from the man he had impaled, when he turned to see who had gotten ahold of him it was none other than Derek. He held Stiles wrist firmly in one hand and wielded his spear in the other; he had blood spattered on him, Stiles knew instantly that it wasn’t his because there were no new wounds on Derek. Stiles noticed the wound Derek had when he initially saw him was now patched up, it looked like some dirt and a few herbs were used as some kind of band aid._

_Stiles started looking around again; he noticed the woman and the little girl were in trouble, the woman had the little girl clutched to her chest screaming in horror. There was a very large and burley man standing over them he looked like he was prepared to kill them. The larger man raised one of his hands prepared to strike them and that’s when Stiles noticed a spear had been thrown and struck the large man in the lower back; he kneeled down instantly writhing in pain._

_Stiles suddenly looked back at Derek and saw that his spear was missing so he could only assume that the man was the one to throw the spear. Both Stiles and Derek ran over to where the woman and the little girl sat trembling in fear, Derek pulled the spear out of the large man’s back and impaled him one more time to ensure he was dead, then he gestured for Stiles and the girls to follow him to which they did._

_Suddenly Stiles vision jumped again, they were now outside of the village heading towards one of the rivers that could be seen from the village. The once beautiful scene was now a sad horrible painting depicting death and destruction at the hands of man._

_The woman and the little girl were panting from too much running, the little girl began to cry and her mother did all she could to quiet her down. Derek stayed on high alert looking around seemingly paranoid of his surroundings, Stiles kept a watchful eye on the woman and her daughter. Something caught Stiles attention because he looked up and noticed something flying towards them, in an instance it hit its target. Stiles looked to where the spear might have landed, what caught his eyes took him off guard. There only a few feet ahead of him was the woman and her daughter held together in an embrace and bound together by the spear. Derek grabbed hold of Stiles and they had begun to run again, only they didn’t get far; there was a group of people not too far away from them. Four men and one woman from what Stiles could tell, regardless if they were closing in on them or not Derek did everything he could to widen the distance between them. Stiles didn’t understand why it seemed like they were running so slow until he fell over and Derek still attempted to pull him along and get him to safety._

_Stiles then noticed there was a wound on his leg; at some point along the way he must have been injured and he was only slowing Derek down. The group stalked closer and closer, Stiles watched as he beckoned Derek to leave him throwing his arms as if he were shooing Derek away begging him to escape and leave him behind. Derek grunted and shook his head not wanting to let go, suddenly he looked up and in an instant he was standing over Stiles. The first thing he noticed is their breathing had gotten really shallow, he managed to peer down and noticed that like the woman and her daughter they had been impaled and stuck together by a spear that must have been thrown by someone in the group. Blood was gushing from Stiles and Derek’s wounds, Stiles vision had begun to get blurry, from what he could tell he had begun to cry. Derek who was now connected to him leaned forward impaling himself further to touch his forehead to Stiles; Stiles cold only imagine it caused both of them immeasurable pain must have been worth it. The minute they made contact Stiles took one last look into the Derek’s magnificent green eyes before everything he was dowsed in darkness …_

And just like his last dream Stiles awoke, shooting up on the bed looking around frantically. He noticed he was in the Nurses office on one of the bed’s for sick students it was his sign that he was back in his own reality. As Stiles heaved trying to reign himself in he felt something dripping from his chin, he rubbed along the bottom of it and realized the he must have been crying. “You were in my dream again …” Stiles said to himself; he swung his legs over the bed and stood up moving the curtain, revealing the front of the nurses office. Scott had been present and the nurse was asking him who they could contact so they could come pick Stiles up.

“Stiles?” Scott asked the minute he noticed Stiles was awake; Scott could tell he had been crying and he could smell the fear and sadness radiating off of Stiles body.

Stiles had never seen his best friend so concerned in his life, “sorry I think I was just dehydrated … can I have some water?”

“Dehydrated? You’re not showing any symptoms of dehydration … are you sure you should be standing up right now?” the nurse asked.

Stiles nodded, “I’m fine really … it has to be minor dehydration, I’ve only been drinking soda and juice the last few days and I stay extremely active.”

The nurse appeared skeptical towards what Stiles was saying but she didn’t press any further, “okay … well you need to go home. It’s against school policy to allow students who have recently fainted to remain in school. You’re lucky you woke up when you did, I was prepared to call the ambulance I’m sure you father would not want to deal with that bill … your father wasn’t available to talk. The woman he has working the front desk said he was out on a call right now and he would probably be unreachable for another hour or so and you know we can’t wait that long in situations like this …”

Stiles sighed, “sorry …” Stiles offered rubbing the back of his neck, “my dad is probably going to freak out now.” Stiles noticed Scott was messing with his phone, he assumed he was texting everyone in the pack.

“Alright, my mom says she’s going to come sign you out …” Scott said looking up from his phone.

Stiles nodded, of course Scott could text his mom to take Stiles out of school she had permission to sign him out. It was the same way for Scott and Stiles dad, “alright I better get my stuff then.”

Scott leaned over and picked up Stiles back pack, “I got it … Isaac and Lydia will get your work for the rest of the day.”

“You should probably just get your work for tomorrow as well …” the nurse said, “I don’t recommend you return to school tomorrow. Your father will know this much …” the nurse finished. “You can either wait here or the front office …” the nurse said to Stiles, “you Mr. McCall need to return to class … now.”

Scott nodded, he looked Stiles over and handed him his backpack, “I’ll talk to you later …” he said more like a command than simply suggesting it. He walked out of the nurse’s office right after that without another word.

Stiles felt his phone vibrate in his pocket:

**_Melissa: Hi Stiles, I will be there in about ten minutes._ **

He shot her a quick “okay, thanks” as a reply and was prepared to put his phone away but another message came through.

**_Scott: You will tell me everything the second you find out._ **

Stiles knew his best friend was frustrated not only because he didn’t know what was going on but also because there was nothing he could do. Stiles sighed and put his phone back in his pocket, “I better go to the front office then my ride will be here in a minute.”

The nurse nodded at him, “okay have a nice day Mr. Stilinski and I hope you feel better.”

“Thanks Mrs. Kogan …” Stiles said offering her a nod before he exited the nurse’s office.

Melissa didn’t take long at all to get to the school. She walked into the front office, “you ready to go?” Stiles nodded in response and walked out of the main office and followed Melissa to her car, she looked him over the minute he got seated in the passenger seat. “Are you feeling okay?” Melissa asked.

Stiles shrugged, “I think so … I don’t know what happened.” Stiles offered, he felt horrible about lying to her; she knew about werewolves and the supernatural, but if Stiles couldn’t explain what was going on to his best friend there was no way he could offer an explanation to his best friend’s mother.

Melissa righted herself and put her seatbelt on before starting up the car, “well I sent your father a message, I told him you should probably drop by the hospital later so I can check on you.”

Stiles nodded, “okay.”

Melissa offered Stiles a warm smile, “but for now you need to get home and get some sleep.”

Stiles nodded again, “yeah you’re right …” Stiles felt his phone buzz in his pocket, he pulled it out quickly expecting it to be another message from Scott but he was surprised to see that it had been a message from Derek.

**_Derek: Where are you?_ **

Stiles fumbled around with his phone before responding,

**_Stiles: Scott’s mom is taking me home … I think I passed out in class._ **

Stiles regretted hitting the send button the minute he pushed it, Derek would probably be peeved as he specifically told Stiles he would be the one to pick him up from school. But it wasn’t like Derek had authority to sign him out so he shouldn’t feel too jaded. Stiles phone vibrated again instantly,

**_Derek: Did you leave your window unlocked last night?_ **

Stiles scrambled to respond, Melissa noticed he was texting someone, “is that Scott?”

Stiles nodded quickly, “yeah I’m trying to get him to stop worrying about me so he can pay attention.”

Melissa smiled at that, “he wanted me to take him out of school too you know. I told him that you were in good hands and he needs to focus on getting his grades up.”

“Aw come on he’s at a B average now …” Stiles reasoned.

Melissa nodded, “and that’s thanks to you and your amazing friends who are willing to help him out.”

**_Stiles: yeah it should still be unlocked_ **

Stiles wrote out to Derek, “maybe … but he is getting better on his own.” Stiles said defending his best friend.

Melissa gave him a full on grin, “well you’re not wrong about that.” They pulled around the corner and up to Stiles house, “you didn’t drive you baby today?” Melissa asked.

Stiles looked up at his driveway and at his jeep, “what? Oh no …”

“Huh … I thought that might have been why Scott wanted to be released early so he could drive it home. Who drove you to school, your father?” Melissa asked as they got out of her car.

Stiles shook his head frantically, “no … no um Jackson came by and gave me a ride.”

Melissa looked taken aback by that, “oh well that’s … interesting.”

Stiles nodded, “yeah … interesting.”

“Okay well you gonna be alright getting inside? Do you need anything, I can make you some soup or bring you something back from the grocery store?” Melissa suggested.

“No I’ll be fine … I think I’m just going to head upstairs and go to sleep.”

Melissa nodded as she leaned onto her car, “okay well come here gimme a hug.” She held her arms out and Stiles walked around the car and gave her a hug, Melissa held him tight and it reminded Stiles of the way his mother used to hug him when he was little. “I have to go into work in about 2 hours so if you need anything in that time just call me and let me know.”

Stiles nodded pulling back, “okay, thanks … um I think I’ll see you later.”

“You better, I will pester John if he doesn’t bring you in.”

Stiles smirked, “yeah I don’t think he wants to deal with that … I’m gonna head inside.”

Melissa nodded and patted him on the back and watched Stiles walk to his front door, “oh before I forget, Scott will be by right after school.”

“Okay, then we’ll see you at the hospital …” Stiles said waving Melissa off as she got back in her car and drove off down the road. Stiles pulled out his keys and opened his front door and sat his backpack on the couch. He walked over to the sink, turned the water on and splashed some cold water onto his face, “what the hell is going on?” Stiles asked himself. He shut the water off and opened the fridge, grabbed a Sunny-D and walked upstairs. He shouldn’t have been so surprised to see Derek standing in his room the second he walked in, “woah shit, what the hell?!” Stiles stammered back, startled.

Derek appeared unfazed by Stiles arrival, “why do you leave your window unlocked when you’re not home?” he asked flatly.

Stiles shrugged, “I-I don’t know … I-I didn’t really think about it, besides it’s not like anyone can get in from there …”

Derek huffed, “are you serious? How do you think I got in?”

“Oh yeah okay … maybe you have a point.”

Derek stepped closer towards Stiles, “don’t do it anymore.” He commanded.

Stiles walked towards his desk and sat down in front of his computer, “alright fine … why are you here?”

“Why else would I be here Stiles?”

Stiles took a sip of his drink, “I don’t know because you’re some kind of creepy werewolf stalker?”

“Do you honestly think now is the best time for sarcasm?”

Stiles sighed, “did you … did you have another dream or vision or whatever you want to call it.”

Derek nodded, “it was different this time …”

“Different how?” Stiles asked intrigued.

“It was a different time … probably hundreds of years in the future from the last dream.” Derek said.

“How-how would you know that?”

“I studied history in college ...” Derek mentioned.

Stiles for all intents and purposes was surprised, “you were in college?”

Derek grew agitated, “yeah I was in college don’t make a big deal about it …”

“Sorry but it’s not like you talk enough and fill any of us in on anything about you besides things we already know.”

Derek sighed, “anyway that thing that was brought back was a ground sloth.”

Stiles shrugged, “I knew that much …”

“Then you know that ground sloths and mammoths existed alongside one another thousands of years ago?”

Stiles nodded, “yeah back in the ice age …”

“The region around us though was different, less snow and more of a warmer climate.”

Stiles thought back to the view from the village, “yeah … you’re right.”

“That was probably more towards the end of the ice age.” Derek suggested, “and considering in our last dream there was a lot of snow and ice around us I’m assuming that was maybe during the middle of the ice age.”

“But I remember the snow was melting in the last dream?”

Derek shrugged, “but the ice wasn’t”

Stiles was a little bewildered, “what ice?”

“You didn’t notice the ice all around us?”

Stiles mouth popped open and he took another swig of his drink, “nope.”

“Well there was ice everywhere, anyway … we died in this dream too.” Derek reminded Stiles.

Stiles looked Derek over, “we were together again …”

Derek nodded, “I noticed that too … and my sisters were in this one.”

Stiles thought back to the woman and the little girl, “your sisters? Wait you mean that woman and her daughter were actually …”

Derek nodded, “yeah … I guess it is what it is.”

Stiles stood, “I thought that maybe the little girl was the woman’s daughter and they might have been friends or something but …” Stiles couldn’t help the overwhelming need to apologize knowing none of this was his fault “I-I’m sorry.”

Derek looked Stiles over, “why are you apologizing?”

Stiles shrugged, “I-I don’t know I thought that … you know …”

Derek walked over to Stiles and stood in front of him, “never mind that, we need to go talk to Deaton and figure out what’s going on.” Stiles seemed perplexed for a moment, but suddenly he was sporting a goofy grin, “what now?” Derek asked.

“You’re talking … a lot.” Stiles mentioned.

Derek seemed peeved by the comment, “I talk all the time Stiles.”

Stiles shook his head still grinning, “not this much …”

“At pack meetings I’m pretty sure I’m always talking.”

“But this isn’t a pack meeting …” Stiles reminded Derek.

Derek tilted his head thinking over what Stiles was saying, “I talk outside of pack meetings.”

“Not to me …”

Derek nodded, “precisely …”

Stiles scoffed, “you are honestly such … a sourwolf.”

“Don’t call me that …”

Stiles shrugged, “truth hurts.” Suddenly it was a repeat of the morning’s events; Derek had pushed Stiles back against the wall and caged him in between his muscular arms. “Oh come on are you serious? You need to lighten up a little …”

“You need to take this seriously …” Derek said in a low threatening tone.

Stiles looked Derek in the eyes, “you think I’m not serious about this?” Stiles wondered how Derek could think he was anything less than serious, “I PASSED OUT IN CLASS! MY DAD IS GOING TO FIND OUT AND PROBABLY THINK SOMETHING IS EXTREMELY WRONG WITH ME! WORST CASE SCENARIO I BECOME A REMINDER OF MY MOM WHEN SHE WAS SICK!” Stiles yelled pushing against Derek who didn’t budge an inch, “Scott is freaking out and so is the rest of the pack!” Stiles mumbled as he stopped struggling. “None of them have any idea what’s going on …”

“Which is exactly why you need to take this seriously, Boyd said you didn’t bother explaining what happened this morning …” Derek mentioned.

“What did you want me to say? ‘Oh hey guys I had this crazy dream about me and Derek in the past and we were in a cave together and we seemed really close and next thing you know we were chased over a cliff by woolly mammoths! But you know that probably happened because of the memory potion that we inhaled when we were in the witch’s hut, which by the way her name was Mae. Oh and apparently Derek had the exact same dream which probably means that everything that happened in the dream actually happened in the past so … there’s that.’” Stiles said frantically.

Derek shut his eyes and grabbed the bridge of his nose, “you could have told them a shortened version of that …”

“Or not … wait you’re the alpha, why haven’t you filled them in yourself? They’re your pack!” Stiles shot back.

“Because I … why didn’t you tell Scott about your mother?” Derek dodged.

Stiles huffed, “I don’t know what happened to my mom to tell him anything! Can we just go to Deaton’s before my dad gets home?”

Derek finally opened his eyes Stiles noticed they were alpha red, not as deep as they were earlier in the morning but still very much red, “I’m sorry … I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“What?”

Derek inhaled, “you’re upset … I can smell it.”

“What’s wrong with you?” Stiles questioned.

“I’m having a very …” Derek struggled to get the words out, “very hard time staying in control and I can’t figure out why.” Derek explained.

Stiles looked Derek over, at first glance his physical feature appeared human enough besides his eyes of course; that’s when Stiles noticed Derek’s teeth, his canines had grown to the point that they stuck out from his mouth while it was closed.

“We need to go … now!” Derek said as he stepped back enough allowing Stiles to walk out of his room. Derek trailed closely behind him as they made their way to the front door, “wait.” Derek said grabbing Stiles wrist, he spun him around and pulled him into his chest and sniffed along the length of Stiles neck the same way he did earlier.

Stiles trembled feeling an odd sensation in his libido, there was something weird going on with Derek yet Stiles did nothing to fight him off, “Derek what-what the hell is going on.”

Derek took a few more whiffs along Stiles neck before he pulled away, “you smell so … so good.” he said as if he were in some kind of trance. He shook his head and slapped his forehead with his palm and kept his eyes shut for another moment; the action caused his features to return to normal and he appeared to be completely human again. Stiles tried to get a word in but Derek didn’t give him a chance “hopefully Deaton can help us.” Derek said.

“Hopefully,” Stiles nodded in agreement.

With a firm grip on Stiles wrist Derek tugged Stiles towards the front door and exited the house with Stiles in tow, their destination the local animal clinic.

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will mostly be from Derek's POV I think ... THANKS FOR READING!


	3. The Answers We Seek

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek and Stiles seek answers to their problems ...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is told from both Derek and Stiles POV
> 
> This story has no beta all mistakes are my own ...

Getting outside of Stiles house was Derek’s first and only thought. Derek felt he was being engulfed by Stiles scent and for some reason it was waning the control he had over his wolf. He hurried down the driveway dragging Stiles along with him and took a few deep breaths of the cool fresh air to clear his senses.

“Hey uh Derek … you mind letting me go?” Stiles asked.

Derek turned and looked at Stiles incredulously, he then looked down and noticed he was still holding onto Stiles wrist; he let go immediately. “Sorry.”

Derek watched as Stiles worked his wrist around to alleviate some of the tension, “yeah sure … where are we going?”

“To Deaton’s Stiles, we just talked about this …”

Stiles nodded, “okay but how are we getting there?”

Derek’s first initial thought was ‘maybe Stiles was experiencing some kind of illness from the potion that made him even more of an idiot than he already was.’ “We’re driving obviously; remember we have vehicles for a reason. They help us get around …” Derek teased.

“Okay …” Stiles simply nodded, “but whose car are we taking?”

Derek sighed, “Mine, now come on …”

Derek was ready to head off towards his car but then he heard Stiles ask, “Where is it?”

“It’s right …” Derek looked around, “it’s …” it wasn’t in the driveway, it wasn’t parked in front of the house on the side of the street, it wasn’t anywhere to be found. That’s when Derek remembered he had ran to Stiles house after waking up in the middle of the preserve; now he felt like the idiot.

“Yeah it’s not here obviously … hold on I’m going to grab my keys.” Stiles said.

Derek watched as Stiles walked away back towards his front door, the second Stiles walked inside, out of sight Derek started gasping for air; he knew what was happening, his wolf was taking over again not completely but it managed to grab some semblance of control.

He fought to keep the wolf at bay but it was no use; little by little he found himself inching towards Stiles house, whatever was driving his wolf to the surface had something to do with Stiles. His wolf had managed to drag him back to the threshold to Stiles front door; the second he was going to step inside Stiles was back in view with his keys in one hand and a pop tart in the other.

Stiles stopped the second he noticed Derek, “wha-what’s going on?”

Derek couldn’t bring himself to speak, but by the look on Stiles face he could only assume that he was partially shifted into his Beta form. Stiles scent filled his nose, it was a mix of strawberry pop tarts, a sweet homely musky smell and fear and as if on cue Derek’s wolf had simmered down allowing Derek to regain control.

“Derek?” Stiles questioned again.

Derek closed his eyes and willed himself to shift back to his human form, “don’t … don’t be afraid …”

Stiles took a bite of his pop tart, “are you okay?”

Derek shook his head, “do you have your keys?”

“Did you lose control or something?” Stiles pressed.

“Do you have your keys?!” Derek asked again, not really wanting to explain what just happened.

“Yeah … they’re right here …” Stiles said holding up his keys.

“Come on,” Derek turned away and walked towards Stiles jeep, Stiles followed him out locking the door behind him. He made his way to the driveway unlocking the doors to his jeep, allowing Derek to sprucely slide into the passenger side; Stiles on the other hand very nearly tripped getting in but caught himself on the steering wheel. “Ow shit … I hate when that happens.” Stiles said as he righted himself, he threw his seat belt on and started up his jeep.

Derek’s eyes were wide with surprise, had Stiles not have caught himself his head would have landed right in Derek’s crotch. Derek wasn’t sure why the idea seemed appealing, but he shook the thought away as soon as it came about, “be careful …” Derek said flatly.

“So you gonna tell me what’s going on with you besides the obvious?” Stiles asked.

“Do you want me to bash your head into the steering wheel again?” Derek threatened.

“No, no, no definitely don’t need any of that; okay we are heading to Deaton’s, no head bashing needed.” Stiles said frantically, taking another bite of his pop tart and before they started their venture to the animal clinic.

It didn’t take them long at all to get to the clinic; Derek fought the urge to scream at Stiles for driving so slow the whole way.

“If you drove any slower I might have died of old age getting here.” Derek teased as he got out of the jeep.

Stiles stopped as he was shutting his door and locking up his jeep, “it’s not my fault you’re old, Grandpa.”

As Derek came around towards the driver’s side Derek shot Stiles a menacing glare causing him to flinch, “come on before I consider bashing your head into your door instead.”

Stiles fumbled his keys around in his hands but he eventually got his doors locked and followed Derek into the clinic. “I don’t know why you always have to threaten me …” Stiles mentioned as they stepped inside.

Derek felt slightly annoyed at that, “I don’t know why you have to be so difficult all the time.”

Stiles gasped, “I’m difficult, really? This coming from the friendly neighborhood alpha that barely speaks and is famous for brooding everywhere he goes …”

Derek huffed ready to retaliate, he didn’t want to fight here but if Stiles was going to start something Derek was prepared to finish it, “Damn it Stiles-“

“Ah I thought I heard you two arguing up here … how can I help you today?” Deaton interrupted.

Derek sighed turning back to Deaton, “Deaton … we need your help.”

Deaton adjusted his glasses, “of course you do, why else would you be here? So how can I help you today?”

Stiles made a popping nose with his mouth, which completely distracted Derek, “well we have a little bit of an issue …” Stiles said.

Deaton crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes, “what kind of issue?”

Derek sighed, “We went to investigate the witch that inhabited the preserve. Stiles and I got afflicted by some kind of potion …”

“It was a memory potion … I remember her saying that; she was going to explain in further detail what would happen but she disappeared and we never got any answers out of her … that and Derek kind of wouldn’t let her speak.” Stiles finished

Derek pinched the bridge of his nose, “Stiles …”

“Okay so you were afflicted by a memory potion, so what? Nothing bad will come of it; you may experience symptoms anywhere from 3 days to 1 month depending on how much of the potion is taken.” Deaton explained.

Stiles scratched the back of his neck, “we didn’t really drink it, it broke on the floor in between us and this mist came out of it and sort of went up our noses ...”

“Ah I see have you had any memory jumps yet?” Deaton asked.

Derek and Stiles looked at one another, “two” both of them said simultaneously.

Deaton adjusted his glasses, “I presume they’re connected?”

“What do you mean by connected?” Stiles asked.

“Do both of you share the same memory?” Deaton interpreted.

Derek nodded, “it’s more like we share memories of our lives previous to this.”

Deaton mumbled something to himself, “But in these memories are you the same person sharing different instances in the past? “

“No, we’re ourselves, I see Derek as Derek and …” Stiles explained.

“I see Stiles as Stiles.” Derek finished.

Deaton tilted his head to the side, it was the first time in Derek’s life he had ever seen Deaton stumped; “So you’re telling me that in these memories, both of you are present?” Both Derek and Stiles nodded, “how exactly do your memory jumps work?” Deaton pressed.

Stiles shrugged, “well for me it’s like I’m looking from my own two eyes only I can’t control anything, I’m just there to watch.”

Derek nodded, “that’s basically it, both of us see from our own point of view.”

“Okay that’s usually how it’s supposed to happen … but …” Deaton looked around racking his brain for an answer. “Usually in this case, sometimes a witch and their apprentice will either drink or inhale the fumes of a memory potion and both of them may experience each other’s memories. Witches use it as a way to train their apprentice and also to keep ancient spells from being lost in time.”

“Okay … how does that relate to us?” Stiles asked.

“It doesn’t and that’s what’s strange.” Deaton said.

Derek scrubbed a hand over his face, “So it’s safe to assume you have no idea how to help us with this?”

“I’ll need to see to some of my books before I can give either one of you a definitive answer. But before that, is there something else I can help you with?” Deaton asked.

“Do you know a witch named-“ Stiles started before he was interrupted.

“Deaton if you don’t mind I need to speak with you … alone” Derek chimed in.

Deaton appeared bewildered, “is there something else you need to share Derek?”

Derek huffed, “I’d much rather keep this between us …”

“Hey no way … if this has something to do with me I deserve to know!” Stiles barked.

“Does it have something to do with Mr. Stilinski?” Deaton asked.

Derek wasn’t really comfortable revealing that his control issues were probably stemming solely from Stiles since he wasn’t exactly sure of that himself, Derek looked to Stiles before he spoke, “my control over my wolf … I’m having problems with it.”

Deaton crossed his arms over his chest, “elaborate for me please. Last time you had this issue we chalked it up to you being too emotionally stressed.”

Stiles gasped, “Wait so you have been having issues with control then?”

Derek looked to Deaton, “I’m pretty sure this has nothing to do with emotional issues … I just … I’m having problems controlling my wolf and I don’t know why.”

Deaton cleared his throat, “Derek please follow me back to my office.”

Derek had begun walking towards Deaton; he could feel Stiles following after him.

Deaton stopped Stiles the minute he got to the desk, “wait out here Stiles … there are some things I need to discuss with Derek alone. I will fill you in on everything as soon as I’m sure of my suspicions.” For once Stiles complied and didn’t try to argue, Derek felt a wave of relief hit him and he continued on to Deaton’s office.

The minute he stepped in, Deaton closed the door behind them, “how long has this been happening?” he asked immediately.

Derek sighed, “Since the whole memory thing started. I lose complete control over my wolf after I experience a memory.”

Deaton nodded, “where do you go when you lose control?”

Derek scratched the back of his head, “the first time I went to Stiles house and the second time I might have been heading to Stiles house again … I’m not really sure why though …”

Deaton nodded again, “what happens in these memory jumps if you don’t mind me asking?”

Derek thought about telling Deaton everything but he held off on their possible romance as he wasn’t sure if they were really romantically involved or just really, really close friends which he felt was unbelievable in any lifetime; “we’re living our lives and then we die …”

Deaton sighed, “If you don’t tell me everything I can’t help you …”

Derek swiped a hand over his face, “We may or may not be involved … it’s hard to tell …”

Deaton murmured something to himself, it was too low and Derek couldn’t pick up on what he said, “you’re romantically involved? You mentioned you died … explain that please.”

Derek held his hand out, “it could have been romantically, I don’t really know.” Derek knew it was romantic, there was no sense denying the obvious. “In both of the memories we die with one another, the first time we fell over a cliff and the second we were impaled with a spear.”

Deaton appeared surprised by the answer, “I assume you die protecting one another?”

Derek nodded in response, “we die trying …”

Deaton adjusted his glasses and walked over to his desk, “I have an idea of what your problem may be it’s rare but it can happen from time to time … so I’m going to ask you again about when you started having issues with control …” Deaton said seating himself behind his desk “and this time I actually want you to think about the many times you’ve lost control over the last few years and when exactly it started happening. You and I both know this isn’t your first case with control issues …”

Derek rolled his eyes grunting out his annoyance with Deaton’s snark; he knew of all the recent times he had lost control, once he had been out on a date with a girl whose name he no longer remembered and he got a call from Erica explaining to him that Stiles had been kidnapped by trolls. Another time Stiles managed to get hurt in a training session, Jackson was going too hard on him and almost broke his arm. Before that the pack was trying to fight off a gargoyle, the damn thing very nearly flew off with Stiles. “There’s too many instances …” Derek said.

Deaton leaned forward onto his desk, “then think about before, when your Uncle and Kate were still alive; did you lose control then?”

Derek huffed at the reminder of Peter and Kate, “no, I was always in control … or I thought I was at least. I let my anger take the wheel back then …”

Deaton nodded, “so you’re saying you’re not angry anymore?”

“No I never said anything like that, I …” Derek thought about what he was going to say but nothing came to mind. Deaton was right, he did just admit to not being angry anymore.

“Derek these past two years you have slowly but surely gotten over your anger that lead you to seek revenge on the argents. Now that you’re over that anger you yourself are more aware of who you are, meaning the real you is back at the helm controlling what’s going on.” Deaton explained.

Derek thought what he said over for a minute, “so what does that mean?”

Deaton shrugged “you have to figure that out yourself. Before, you and your wolf were blinded by rage, now that isn’t the case anymore … and while we’re talking about your issues with control I fear I may have been wrong in my diagnosis to your problem before …”

Derek cocked his head to the side, “but I got better?”

Deaton chuckled a little, “you got better because you thought the source of your problem was your emotional wellbeing, when in actuality it was something entirely different.”

Derek walked towards Deaton’s desk, “can you for once stop beating around the bush and tell me what the fuck is wrong with me?!”

Deaton leaned back in his chair, “after I ‘helped’ you before, did you still have any minor problems with control?”

Derek thought back, there were some instances where he would unintentionally do things but stop himself before anyone would notice. “Yeah but they weren’t that serious …”

Deaton peered at Derek from the corner of his eyes, “give me an example …”

Derek shrugged, “I don’t know I just … sometimes there would be this particular smell and it only came when the pack was around and all I ever wanted to do was find the source of it and roll around in it.”

Deaton nodded in understanding, “okay, give me another example.”

Derek shrugged, his leather jacket was beginning to make him feel like he was on fire so he took it off, “I … sometimes when we have pack meetings and I can smell that scent, I catch myself reaching towards what I believe to be the source … it’s never the same person though and the scent isn’t as strong on some as it is on others.”

Deaton smiled at that, “do you have an idea of who the source is?”

Derek gave Deaton an incredulous look, “the pack obviously …”

Deaton was having a hard time not cracking up, “no Derek, there is only one person that could have a scent that will make your wolf uneasy.”

Derek thought about what Deaton was saying, one person could make Derek’s wolf uneasy; who could that person be? “Is it because they’re supernatural?”

Deaton stopped cackling and sat forward, “forgive me Derek I shouldn’t laugh but seeing you like this reminds me so much of when you were younger. Now the person could be supernatural but this is more of a natural thing and it doesn’t happen often because the chances of finding this person over the span of a lifetime are one in seven billion.”

Derek thought over what Deaton had said, the moment he realized what he was trying to tell him his eyes widened in shock, “are you talking about mates?” Deaton nodded reading Derek’s expression carefully, “but if my mate is in the pack why didn’t I know before?” Derek asked.

“Well it’s as I said before, you were controlled by anger when you came back and you’ve been letting go of that anger over the years and now you and your wolf have come to your senses; so it’s only natural your wolf would now be able to recognize it’s mate in life.” Deaton explained.

‘Who could it be? Most of the pack carries a little bit of the scent on them, how was he supposed to differentiate where it was coming from? There’s also the fact that more than half of the pack is dating one another, what if his mate is seeing someone else?’ Derek wondered to himself; “how am I supposed to know who it is exactly?”

Deaton stood from his desk and walked over to his office door and opened it up, “I want you to sniff the air, get a good whiff of it and tell me what you smell.”

Derek complied, inhaling as much as he could, he drew in every smell of the clinic; the dogs, the cats, Deaton’s very peculiar, anything that was in the clinic Derek could smell it. His eyes widened when he caught wind of the scent, “I can smell it …”

Deaton nodded and closed the door, “do you know?”

Derek whipped his head around and glared at Deaton, “if I knew I wouldn’t be standing here …”

Deaton sighed, “Derek … think about the times you’ve lost control again and think of the reason why this time.”

Derek growled, “Damn it if you know just tell me!”

“Derek I’m going to ask you to calm down …” Deaton said assertively, “now I want you to voice out any time you’ve lost control.”

Derek huffed as he willed himself to relax, “the first thing that comes to mind is when Stiles was kidnapped by trolls, I had been out … on a date …” Derek caught Deaton smirking but said nothing of it, “and Erica called and filled me in on what happened. He had been gone for a little over 7 hours; I think I lost it because they kept that from me for so long; that happened a little over a year ago. Then there was the time Jackson nearly broke Stiles arm during a training session and after that was the time Stiles was almost taken by a gargoyle.”

“Now I want you to think about what you just told me and tell me who is always at the epicenter of your loss of control.” Deaton said expectantly.

Derek gasped, “The pack?”

“Derek …” Deaton scoffed, “of the three instances you just told me, who is always involved?”

Derek’s heart began to race; he could feel the blood draining from his face as the realization set in. He grabbed his jacket and bypassed Deaton opening up the door to his office rushing to the front to confirm his suspicions.

Stiles stood in the front lobby pacing around and from what Derek could see he was on the phone. What was happening now was much more pressing than whatever he was talking about over the phone; without even thinking about it he walked up and grabbed Stiles by the shoulders, “Hang up … now” Derek commanded.

Stiles froze in place, “da-dad I’m gonna have to call you back in a second I think I’m going to be sick.” Stiles murmured hanging up his phone quickly.

Derek didn’t make any sudden movements as he looked Stiles over; of course his mate would wind up being Stiles, who else could it be. That was the reason he started to smell so appealing, that was the reason he was always so concerned over his safety. It was also the reason his wolf took over when they were back at Stiles house and after he experiences a memory, the visions of seeing them die is driving his wolf mad. But he had to be absolutely sure, “Don’t move … okay?” Derek asked.

Stiles nodded, “you’re not planning on slamming me into anything right?”

“Shut up Stiles …” Derek said. He shut his eyes and inhaled deeply once again taking in all the scents of the clinic but unlike before the scent Derek found most appealing was now overwhelming his senses. It intoxicated him, leaving him at a loss for words; he opened his eyes and by the look on Stiles face he assumed that they had shifted to alpha red.

“Do I smell bad or something?” Stiles asked suddenly.

“No … no … you …” Derek struggled, “you smell … so … so good.” His grip tightened on Stiles shoulders.

Fear rippled through Stiles spine, “Ye-yeah … you know you said that to me last night before you left …”

Derek gasped, backing away from Stiles; he couldn’t remember saying that to him; he only remembered leaving after discussing the dream they shared. “I need to leave.” Derek said as he bolted out of the clinic.

His wolf fought for control, trying to come to the surface and stop Derek; but he concentrated hard enough and told himself that if he were to lose control with Stiles he could possibly hurt him and that thought alone was enough to keep his wolf at bay.

“Derek wait!” Stiles attempted to follow.

“Let him go Stiles!” Deaton exclaimed. “He has a lot of things he has to process and some time alone is exactly what he needs right now.”

Stiles pointed towards the door, “did you figure out what was going on with him?”

“That is something that he should tell you himself …” Deaton turned back towards his office, “I believe you had some questions for me, follow me back to my office.”

Stiles looked back at the door opting to go out and search for Derek but he went against his better judgment and followed Deaton; the questions he had regarding Mae, the memory potion and his mother and her potential involvement in the supernatural outweighed whatever was going on with Derek at the moment.

“So Stiles, what is it you wanted to ask me?” Deaton said as he entered his office and sat behind his desk, “by the way … aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

Stiles waved Deaton’s question off as he took a seat in front of his desk, “I had one of those memory jumps and went home early … anyway I need to know if you know a witch named Mae.”

Deaton sat back in his chair squinting at Stiles, “the name rings a bell, why?”

Stiles sighed, “She was the witch that was in the preserve.”

Deaton appeared unfazed by the information, “Hmm I see … is that all you wanted to ask me?”

Stiles gawked, “has she been here before or something? You don’t seem all that surprised that she was there.”

Deaton shrugged, “she used to travel through these parts from time to time a while ago …”

Stiles leaned forward in his seat, “you’re not telling me something …”

Deaton peered at Stiles, “you’re not asking the right questions.”

Stiles wiped under his nose and sat back in his seat, thinking over which question could net him the most information, “I spoke with her … she said she knew my mom …”

“Now you’re onto something …” Deaton chimed in.

Stiles was shocked into silence for a split second, “did she come here to visit my mom?” Deaton nodded, “why?” Stiles pressed.

Deaton shrugged, “I wouldn’t know …”

“Okay … then, do … do you know if my mom was a witch?” Stiles asked cautiously.

Deaton nodded again, “yes I do know …”

Stiles heart rate was out of control at this point, the anticipation was eating away at him, “was she a witch?”

Deaton read Stiles over carefully, “are you sure you want me to answer that?

Stiles licked his lips and nodded, “yeah …”

Deaton scratched the side of his head, “yes … your mother was in fact a witch.”

“But … but … but how? I would have … I would have … I …” Stiles stammered.

“Breath Stiles, the last thing we need is for you to have a panic attack …” Deaton said.

Stiles took a deep breath and allowed himself a few moments to calm down while he processed the information he had just gotten. “Okay … okay, I-I can do this …” Stiles said to himself he took a few more deep breaths before asking, “Do you know any way I can get into contact with Mae?”

“That depends … what happened in the woods?” Deaton asked.

Stiles sighed, “Before Derek got there, Mae said she thought I was dead; she told me that she knew my mom for a while and then Derek showed up and now that I’m thinking about it she acted like she knew him already and she was expecting him to show up …”

“Is that so?” Deaton opened a drawer to his desk and scuffled through the contents searching for something, “it would appear Mae kept a few things secret during her last visit here.”

“Wha-what do you mean?”

Deaton pulled out a folder and sat it on his desk, “we are about to find out …” Deaton started looking through the contents of the folder and pulled out a single piece of paper and began looking it over. “it says here that during her last visit, she was simply here to speak with your mother about personal issues in the witch community …” Deaton sat the paper in front of him and leaned forward, “I believe that was the first time she met Derek … I didn’t think anything of it but at the time she said something that threw Talia and I off …”

“Wait … Talia, Derek’s mom?” Stiles wondered.

“Yes, Derek’s mother …”

Stiles sat forward in his chair to get a better look at the paper Deaton had pulled out, “wait, why do you have this?”

Deaton sighed, “I haven’t told anyone this for some time now but back then I served as the emissary to the Hale pack … and that to this day is something not even Derek knows.”

“Wait what’s an emissary?”

“An emissary is someone who advises the alpha on things they should do in regards to the pack and their territory … they have other duties as well that I don’t necessarily want to speak on at the moment.” Deaton explained.

Stiles masked his disappointment in the explanation but took what he could get, “so then what did Mae say that took you guys off guard?”

“She said …” Deaton collected himself before continuing, “she said that Derek would be very special to someone later in life and it would be his duty to protect that person with his life and in doing so the reward would be all he could have ever hoped for. That’s not something you expect an adult to tell a four year old.”

Stiles thought over what to say to that, “okay … so it sounds like she can probably see into the future … or something?”

Deaton shrugged, “I wouldn’t doubt it … that wasn’t the only troubling thing she had to say; she-“

“Wait why were you guys even meeting with her to begin with?” Stiles interrupted.

“Because she was intruding on Hale territory and needed to explain her reasoning for her presence. It’s only natural for supernatural passerby’s to seek approval from the alpha of the territory before they can visit. Usually I would not be present for those meetings but I happened to be meeting Talia the very day Mae last visited Beacon Hills.” Deaton explained. Stiles nodded satisfied with the answer. Usually Talia “She also told us to watch over Derek carefully and be weary of those he should surround himself with …” Deaton stopped as a sudden realization crossed him. “Oh my …”

Stiles took a moment to think on what Deaton might be thinking about, “do you think she knew about Kate?”

Deaton took his glasses off and sat them on his desk, “I do … she probably didn’t know about Kate exactly but she knew of the coming danger, hence her warning. If only we had of taken it more seriously … they would probably still be alive today.”

Stiles could see that Deaton was going through a mixture hurt and shame, “it might not mean anything, but you couldn’t have known what was going to happen …”

Deaton sighed, “thank you Stiles … you are right to an extent … we couldn’t have known what was going to happen but we could have done more to prevent it; but that is in the past now.” Deaton put his glasses back on and leaned forward, “I think the reward may have something to do with you.”

Stiles became unhinged at the comment, “why?!”

“That is something you will have to speak with Derek about …” Stiles was going to protest but Deaton held his hand up, shushing him before he could comment, “anyway did Mae tell you anything else that I should know of?”

Stiles shrugged, “no she said that she would speak with me again and she told Derek to keep me safe and then she vanished.”

“If she said that she would see you again then she will see you again … if you don’t mind me asking Stiles, what is your real name?”

“Nepheliam … why? Please don’t start calling me that either, I prefer Stiles …” Stiles murmured.

Deaton’s eyes widened, “I have heard that name somewhere before …”

Stiles shrugged, “I wouldn’t know where, I tried googling my name and it has no significant meaning …”

“It may have more meaning in the supernatural community, I’ll have to look into it … Is there anything else you needed to know?” Deaton pressed.

“Do you know anything about a spell or a curse that can afflict someone with frontal temporal dementia?” Stiles asked.

Deaton pulled some more folders out from his desk, “that is a question that Mae can answer for you … I know many things, but I am no witch and I do not know of all of their spells.”

Stiles nodded, “okay … fair enough.” Stiles thought over any other questions he had for Deaton, “How do the memory jumps work, do they just happen at random times?”

Deaton looked up from the material he was looking at, “well there is no distinct time they can happen, but then again witches usually only take in enough of the potion to cause only one memory jump at a time. There have been some that have taken in too much and have had a maximum of 3 or 4 jumps … I do know that it will take longer for your next jump to happen why that is, I’m not sure. Also the jumps don’t usually happen in the same manner, so do not be surprised if you experience you next jump differently.”

“Okay … how will we know when this potion wears off?” Stiles asked.

“The fumes will expel from your bodies and both of you won’t experience anymore jumps.” Deaton explained. “There is something I’m missing … something I know I need to warn you about.” Deaton mulled, trying hard to remember the warning, “ah that’s right … it is said that in some cases people who take too much of the memory potion may experience some side effects; depending on the memories they experience.”

Of course there would be side effects; this was all seemingly too easy, Stiles thought to himself. “Are there any lasting side effects?”

Deaton shook his head, “no none that you need to be too worried about, you could experience a mild form of PTSD or something entirely different … it all depends on what you go through.”

“Okay …” Stiles said standing up, “thanks for your help Deaton … I’ll let Derek know whenever I see him again.”

“You’ll see him again soon, trust me.” Deaton smirked as he scuffled through papers.

“I’m not going to read into that …” Stiles said as he pointed towards the door and began walking away. He was happy to have gotten some answers to his questions but at the same time he was frustrated because now he had more questions and this time only Derek could answer them. The big question was, would Derek be willing to answer any of his questions?

As soon as he was about to step out into the front office Stiles thought of one last question to ask, he berated himself for almost forgetting about it, “Hey Deaton … do you know why Derek and I see each other in our past?”

Deaton lifted his head revealing his very grave expression, “I do have an idea, but Mae may actually be able to answer that question better than I can.”

Stiles nodded, there was no point trying to pressure Deaton into telling him something he wasn’t sure of. Now Stiles was left with two big dilemmas, the first was finding Derek and getting him to spill the beans on what he knew. The second was finding Mae …

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was asked about when I would be updating this story, I don't have any specific days on when I will update but I will try to update at least twice a week.
> 
> If you have any questions let me know, and thanks so much for reading :D
> 
> Next chapter:A Message from Mae


	4. Responsibility

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stiles is surprised to learn a few things regarding a certain someone in the pack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I have been away I have 2 jobs now so I'm super busy but I have found time in my schedule to be able to write another chapter and I am now able to update regularly again :) I sort of posted this in a rush so if you notice any mistakes let me know. Sorry I have been away again but i'm back!

Stiles was grateful for the answers Deaton was able to answer for him, but the simple fact that after visiting Deaton only brought on more questions with no immediate answer Stiles couldn’t help but feel overwhelmed and irritated. ‘What was going on with Derek that made him run off and where the hell is Mae?’ Those two specific questions repeated over and over in Stiles head, the fact that he couldn’t answer them only irritated him more. The whole ride home he couldn’t think of anything other than what was going on; as he pulled his jeep into his driveway and set it in park he opened up his door and exclaimed, “This whole situation is fucking stuuuuuupiiiiiiiiiiiid!!!!!!”

“What situation is stupid?” Scott questioned standing next to his dirt bike.

Stiles squeaked, “Fuck Scott! You think you could maybe say something before you nearly give me a heart attack?”

“But I did say something …”

Stiles scoffed, “I mean something like ‘hi’ or ‘hey how’s it going?’ I’m not a werewolf Scott I can’t tell when you’re nearby if you don’t say something …” Stiles said as he stepped out of his jeep and slammed the door a little too hard. “Oh shit … I’m sorry baby I didn’t mean it” Stiles said rubbing the side of his jeep.

Scott rolled his eyes, “Stiles you need to tell me what’s going on.”

“Why aren’t you in school?”

Scott sighed, “school let out fifteen minutes ago …”

“Ugh,” Stiles bypassed Scott knowing he would follow him into his house, “I’m still not sure …” Stiles mentioned as he opened his front door.

Scott felt skeptical towards Stiles answer, even if he could hear that Stiles heartbeat didn’t falter, “Stiles …”

Stiles threw his keys on the counter and took a seat at the table, “Listen Scott … this … whatever the hell this is, is some serious shit.”

Scott took a seat across from Stiles, “I got that the moment you passed out in the preserve … and in class.”

Stiles huffed as he leaned back in his seat, “it’s called a memory jump …”

Scott nodded, “go on …”

Stiles licked his lips and thought over everything Deaton told him, “it’s only usually supposed to happen one time, but … but me and Derek … never mind. The memory jumps are a side effect of some potion the witch from the preserve had … her name was Mae by the way.

“So she made you drink a potion? How’d she manage to get you and Derek down to drink it?”

Stiles scrubbed his face and sighed, “She didn’t make us drink anything … the bottle sort of broke between me and Derek after she knocked us back into her shelf and next thing you know this mist comes out and it goes straight into our noses and … you know what happened after that. Usually it’s only supposed to cause one memory jump but because we inhaled so much we’re experiencing multiple jumps … and there may be some side effects but Deaton said it’s nothing serious.”

Scott visibly relaxed upon hearing the explanation, “so how do these … ‘memory jumps’ work? How do you get it to stop?”

Stiles shrugged, “well … I pass out obviously and then I wake up sort of, except I’m in the past … it’s like I’m watching a movie and I’m seeing it first hand from my own two eyes. Both times it’s happened, me and Derek get killed-“

“Wait Derek’s in your memories?!”

Stiles sighed, “Yeah I guess … we both see the same thing just from our own perspective.”

Scott furrowed his eyebrows, “so are these memories real or …”

Stiles nodded, “yeah I think they’re real … Deaton said as much. They’re memories from our past lives I guess …”

“So then why is Derek with you in the past?” Scott sat up excitedly, “Am I with you?”

Stiles shook his head much to Scott’s disappointment, “no … in the two we’ve had I’ve only seen Derek and his sisters and we get killed so … don’t be too down about it.”

Scott hung his head low, “it’d just be nice to know I’m with you beyond this lifetime.”

“Aw come on Scott … you know you’re my bro for life … in any lifetime.”

Scott smirked, “yeah I know. So you never did say how you get these things to stop.”

“Deaton said that when it’s finished the fumes will expel from my body and that’s it.”

Scott didn’t seem too bothered by the explanation, “well okay then, so how long is it supposed to last?”

Stiles shrugged, “maybe a week … or two … could be a month.”

“A MONTH?! Stiles you can’t pass out every day for a month, how are you going to explain that to the school!!!” Scott exclaimed standing out of his seat.

“Scott chill out, Deaton said that the memory jumps take longer after each one. So if we think about it … I had my first one last night and maybe 13 hours later I had another … so I may not have another one for longer than that.” Stiles explained.

Scott scoffed and sat himself back down, “I don’t like this …”

“You don’t like it because you can’t do anything about it.”

Scott wiped his nose, “but if I could do something about it I would …” Scott said confidently. Feeling the need for a change in subject Scott huffed, “Hey how’s that girl you were talking to? What was her name again ... Madison?”

Stiles rolled his eyes, “you mean Heather? She’s fine I guess …”

“You guess?”

Stiles shrugged, “yeah I mean she text me sometimes … like late at night and I text her back and sometimes we talk on the phone and other shit like that.”

Scott starred at Stiles as if he was absolutely amazed about something, “you … you’re like completely checked out on this stuff aren’t you?”

Stiles stood up from his seat and walked over to the cabinet and pulled out some more pop tarts, “checked out on what?”

“Relationships …”

Stiles stopped as he was taking the pop tarts out of the cabinet, “I don’t know … to be honest I thought the only person I would ever be in love with was Lydia … I never thought I would be able to get over her. Ever since last year I just don’t feel that way about her anymore … I don’t even feel that way with Heather if we’re being honest, I mean she’s nice to talk too and stuff but I don’t really wanna date her …” Stiles shrugged, “I wouldn’t mind if she took my virginity though.”

Scott gave a dopey grin to Stiles, “dude sex is awesome especially-“

Stiles raised his hand up, “SHUT UP SCOTT! Too. Much. Information!

Scott shrugged, “dude I’m just saying sex is pretty awesome when you finally start doing it … especially with someone you love.”

Stiles ripped open the wrapping paper to his pop tarts and threw them in the toaster, “yeah well when I figure out if I can love someone again and actually get them to have sex with me I’ll fill you in on my experience.”

“You ever think you might be … missing something?”

Stiles faced Scott only to scrutinize him, “what exactly am I missing?”

Scott held up his hands, “I’m not saying anything bad … I just … you maybe think you might be, missing something obvious?”

“Scott … maybe you need to stop working for Deaton …” Stiles suggested.

“What, why?!” Scott demanded.

Stiles sighed, “Because you’re starting to sound like him … whatever you have to say just say it.”

Scott hung his head low, “you think maybe you and Der-“

Stiles pop tarts suddenly popped out from the toaster, “Wooh fuck yeah pop tart time!!!! Scott let’s play some Xbox … and no Halo Revelations that game is absolute shit … LET’S PLAY DESTINY!!!!”

Scott completely forgot what he was getting at the moment he heard Stiles suggestion, “yes! Hey wait … you got any chips or something?”

Stiles scoffed and opened the cupboard and grabbed the barbeque Lay’s potato chips, “I swear you’re the biggest fatass I know.”

“Says the one eating pop tarts I bet that’s your second round …” Scott said as he took the bag of chips from Stiles.

Stiles smirked, “I have accepted junk food as my lord and savior.” Stiles and Scott laughed simultaneously, “hey what were you going to tell me before?”

Scott turned around as they headed for the living room couch, “what … oh, nothing … nothing just forget I even said anything.”

Stiles pursed his lips at that but decided it best not to pursue whatever it was Scott was trying to say, “okay then … LETS GET PLAYIN!” Stiles hollered as he started up his Xbox One.

They played for hours, mission after mission fighting the seemingly never ending fight against the fallen; outside, the afternoon sun had quickly set upon the horizon; the boys had made it all the way to Venus they were set upon finishing the mission ‘When a Stranger Calls,’ “Stiles 3 o’clock!” Scott exclaimed pointing at the screen.

Stiles quickly took care of the fallen shooting it down, “thanks buddy … hey …”

“Stiles what are you doing come on!”

Stiles stood completely in awe of the screen, the scenery resembled his memory of the plains where he and Derek fell over a cliff. “Stiles?” Scott said as he stood and rested a hand on his friends shoulder.

Stiles used his controller to move his character a little further into the area, “this is … this is the place.” Stiles murmured, “this is where … never mind. “ Stiles sat back down and continued along. Another fight against the fallen had commenced and Stiles was shooting them down with the assistance of Scott’s guidance. Stiles had been shooting the fallen down left and right he backed up as the fallen were cornering his character. “Shit they’re going to destroy my shield!”

“Dude jump back!” Scott suggested.

Stiles did just that only to watch his character fall over a ledge; in that moment Stiles stood back up quickly, flinging his controllers out of his hands, images of falling over a cliff with Derek flashed before his eye, “NO!!!”

“Stiles what’s wrong?!” Scott said trying to get a handle on his best friend.

“Scott, Scott that’s the place … that’s the place where we died, there are … there are mammoths!!!” Stiles gasped.

“What mammoths? Stiles that’s Venus …” Scott said rubbing Stiles shoulder for comfort.

“No … that’s …” Stiles looked back to the screen, “that’s …”

“It’s the game Stiles.” Scott said carefully, “dude are you sure you’re okay?”

Stiles shrugged out of Scott’s hold, “yeah-yeah I’m fine …” he began to walk towards the kitchen, “I need a glass of water.”

“Stiles …”

Stiles spun around angrily, “I’m fine Scott … what the fuck?” Stiles was no longer in his house, from what he could tell he was back in Mae’s hut.

“You have no idea how hard it is getting a hold of you …” Someone said from behind Stiles.

Stiles flailed in response, “Mae?!”

“Nepheliam, so nice to see you again,” Mae said casually.

“How-how am I here right now?” Stiles asked perplexed.

Mae shrugged, “it is nothing more than a simple astral projection spell, but never mind that I do not have much time, Nepheliam-”

“Stiles” Stiles interjected.

Mae cocked her head to the side, “Stiles … I forgot to warn you, they’re coming for you.”

Stiles flinched, “who’s coming for me?”

“They’ve had many different names over their many different lifetimes, this time they call themselves the alpha pack.” Mae explained.

“Okay but why do they want me?”

Mae looked around her hut, “I have no time to explain that right now my magic is wearing off, I will visit you soon … MAKE SURE DEREK IS PROTECTING YOU AT ALL TIMES! AND THIS TIME WHEN I COME FOR A VISIT NO SURPRISES, JUST KNOCK ON THE FRONT DOOR!!!”

Suddenly the hut vanished and Stiles was back in his house, “she’s gone … again.” Stiles said to himself.

“Stiles … Stiles what the hell was that?!” Scott asked shaken as he stood next to Stiles.

Stiles hadn’t even noticed Scott standing next to him, “what did you see?”

“You stopped talking and all of a sudden it was like you were spacing out or something so I tried to come over and snap you out of it but when I touched you I saw this hut and there was this lady and I heard her say ‘make sure Derek protects you at all times.’” Scott explained.

Stiles sighed, “That was Mae … the witch from the preserve.”

“The witch … you mean the witch that caused this?!”

“Scott it wasn’t technically her fault … if Derek had of calmed down she wouldn’t have been forced to defend herself.”

Scott grunted, “She attacked Allison first …”

Stiles shook his head, “Allison was holding a crossbow to her …” Stiles noticed Scott clenching his fist.

“Allison is pack … the witch hurt Allison so Derek saw her as a threat. Not to mention she was invading pack territory, she had two strikes against her before Derek got to her; of course he was going to be aggressive.”

‘Way to make this about Allison,’ Stiles thought to himself; “Okay one let’s not make this about Allison because if it was about Allison then Mae would have probably done more than just knock her out. Two, Derek saw that I wasn’t in danger so he didn’t need to come in with a stick up his ass.”

Scott swung at the air, “damn it Stiles I know this isn’t about Allison and I know you may have felt you weren’t in danger but when it comes to you in any given situation regardless of the circumstances Derek is going to be protective!”

Stiles cocked his head to the side, “you make it sound like something more than just a pack thing …”

Scott closed his eyes and took a deep breath, “because it-“ before he could finish his phone buzzed, “Derek’s calling …” Scott answered quickly, Stiles noticed Scott’s demeanor had changed the minute he answered the phone. This became one of the many instances where Stiles wished he had werewolf hearing just to listen in on the conversation; he noticed Scott wasn’t giving direct answers into the phone he would only answer with “mhm,” “no” and “okay.” After five minutes he hung up the phone, “I have to go …” Scott said quickly.

Stiles perked up, “okay where, do you want me to come with you?”

Scott held his hands up, “no stay here … it’s uh … this is sort of a werewolf only thing.”

Stiles was taken aback by the answer, “okay?”

Scott nodded frantically, clearly trying to escape the situation before he messed it up, “yeah so … I’ll call you later and fill you in … alright gotta go. Later buddy! Sorry to leave a mess behind …” Scott said as he rushed toward the front door; he left without giving Stiles a chance to say bye.

Stiles spaced for a moment, he could hear Scott start up his bike outside, in that moment he remembered how much he needed to talk to Derek; he rushed for the front door and called to Scott knowing he would hear him. “Hey Scott, tell Derek I need to talk to him!!” Stiles was certain Scott heard him over the roar of his dirt bike although Scott made no outward acknowledgement of hearing him. He stood and watched as Scott road off down the road out of sight.

Stiles let himself back in the house, leaning against the door he went over a million scenarios that would cause Scott to freak out and leave the way he did. Sties shook off most of the thoughts going through his head, “if it was really important he’d of filled me in.” Stiles said to himself shrugging the situation off. He glanced around his house for a moment before ultimately deciding to go back to playing Destiny the rest of the night.

Somewhere between 1 a.m. and 2 a.m. Stiles dozed off in front of the television, his father had come home to find him laid out on the floor with his controller laying on his stomach. “Stiles … Stiles get up!” John said nudging Stiles with his foot.

Stiles scurried awake, “da-dad? What time is it?”

“Time for you to go to bed, come on get up and turn the game off …” John said as he headed towards the stairs.

Stiles hurried to turn his game off and follow his dad upstairs, “so why are you off so late?”

“A new case came up and it has the whole department doing overtime …” John said quietly.

“What happened?”

John sighed, “Stiles you know I can’t talk about that with you …”

Stiles huffed, “aw come on dad, you’ve broken the rule before and filled me in on some things …”

“Stiles those cases involved petty thefts, this is something entirely different and much much worst and I don’t want you to even think about snooping around in this and if I tell you what’s going on I know you’re going to snoop so I’m choosing not to tell you to keep you out of this.”

Stiles gnawed at his bottom lip, “if I promise to snoop and give the scouts honor will you tell me?”

John rolled his eyes, “you weren’t in the scouts so no … I’m going to bed Stiles I have to be up in about 3 hours to be back at the station.”

“Dad … please.” Stiles said his voice layered in concern.

John turned back and looked his son over, “fine … but you better not go digging around getting yourself into trouble because Stiles I swear to God if you even think about getting involved in this I just might kill you myself.” Stiles started making ridiculous motions with his hands signifying his father to just hurry up and get on with it. John closed his eyes and silently reprimanded himself for giving into his son, “there’s been a few murders in the last 48 hours …”

Stiles jaw dropped, “how many is a few?”

John swiped a hand over his face, whatever was going on with this case was clearly upsetting him “5 maybe 6 people … we’re not sure yet.”

“How are you not sure?”

“We don’t know if a pair of legs we found by the local café belongs to the torso that we found a few miles down the road.” John’s expression was completely grim.

Stiles could tell by the expression on his father’s face that he was dealing with a lot right then, “You gonna be okay?”

John shrugged, “if we can find the monster that did this I might be able to sleep easier.”

Stiles placed a hand on his father’s shoulder, “dad if it gets too much for you …”

John shrugged Stiles hand off, “I know son ‘if it gets too much and it starts effecting my health I need to take the backseat and let someone else take over.’ I know that son, I really do, but I am the sheriff of this town and if I can’t lead my department through a gruesome event like this, who can?”

“You’ve got deputies …” Stiles started.

“Deputies that need a leader Stiles …” John said hurriedly. “I’m not going to argue with you about this Stiles I don’t have the energy for that right now. I love you all the more for being so concerned about my wellbeing but I am the adult here. It’s my responsibility to take care of myself … and you. Not the other way around, so if you ever feel like you’re overwhelmed with all the responsibility you feel you need to take on don’t be afraid to take the backseat and live like a teenager.”

“Way to turn it around on me …” Stiles mumbled.

“Go to bed Stiles …”

Stiles smirked looking up at his father, “alright night dad.”

“Night son.” With that John closed his door leaving Stiles in the hallway to think about what his father said. In a sense he was right, Stiles was taking on the responsibilities of an adult what with taking care of his dad and himself and making sure there’s food on the table for his dad when he gets home. He also does the laundry and most of the house work like cleaning, mowing the yard etc. Some of the stuff he does is everyday work a teenager would do for an allowance but not Stiles, his father will generally give him an allowance every now and then when he asks for it or when it’s required because his dad will be out on the job for longer than 24 hours.

Stiles walked back into his room and sat himself on his bed dwelling over all that he did, he never actually did allow himself to be an actual teenager when he was home besides the times he played video games with Scott or had him stay the night he was mostly taking on adult responsibilities never allowing himself any leisure time. But who could blame him, his father could barely take care of himself, if he had free reign over what he ate he would probably die of a heart attack before the age of 50. His father was wrong, he is Stiles responsibility for more than one reason but mostly it’s because he’s all the family Stiles has left.

A smirk crept up on Stiles face as he came to the sudden realization, he fist pumped the air; he was going to stand up but he suddenly brought his fist down and grabbed at his throat. Stiles gasped as a sudden wave of pain overtook him, images of something or someone beating the life out of him came before his eyes. His voice escaped him, the air in his lungs all but gone; one after the other after the other someone had been punching, kicking and slashing at him. Stiles couldn’t call for help his body was no longer in his control.

It seemed to have gone on for hours with no particular end in sight suddenly he felt himself being shaken roughly, someone was trying to snap him out of whatever he was going through.

“Stiles please look at me …” the voice sounded a lot like Derek’s, but Derek wouldn’t come into Stiles house unless his father wasn’t home. He definitely wouldn’t come into his room; Derek wouldn’t want to risk being shot because his father made the wrong assumption when finding him in his son’s room. As Stiles became more aware of his surroundings and the images started to cease he noticed a cool breeze hit him; he assumed it came in from the now open window that Derek came through.

“Stiles wake up!” Stiles eyes shot open, the first thing he saw was the person who was shaking him, his assumption was right in being that the person was Derek.

“Derek … Derek … dude … Derek you gotta keep it down my dad’s in the other room.” Stiles said as he came to.

Derek shook his head, “no he’s not … we’re not at your house.”

Stiles rubbed his eyes and looked around, Derek was right they weren’t at his house anymore; they probably were about a mile away from it judging by the scenery; they were near the preserve in an open grassy area. “How-how the hell did I get here?”

“I carried you …” Derek said clearly he was trying his best to stay composed.

“You carried me? How long was I out? You … wait, why were you even at my house?” Stiles asked.

There was no easy way to put it, “Maybe an hour or two … I was going to come talk to you about earlier and about something else but … you were sleeping on the floor and then your dad came home … and you started … your heart was beating … so fast … I panicked.” Derek struggled to explain.

“Ye-Yeah I don’t know what that was …” Stiles said quietly for some reason he was more interested in knowing about earlier, “What happened earlier? Do you mean what you and Deaton talked about at the clinic?”

Derek nodded, “I called a pack meeting earlier and-“

Stiles felt heated with anger at being left out of a pack meeting, “You called a pack meeting … you called a pack meeting and left me out! Is that why Scott was in a hurry to get out of my house so quickly and wouldn’t tell me what was going on? That was ‘the werewolf thing’ wasn’t it?”

“Stiles listen-“

“Why didn’t you call me? What the hell did Deaton tell you earlier?” Stiles badgered.

“Stiles …”

In the midst of heckling Derek Stiles remembered his vision that caused him to lose consciousness, it seemed so real yet it wasn’t. It was almost like one of the memory jumps but not quite, “Wait … wait Derek … did you see? Did you see the person? Did you feel anything?”

“That’s part of the reason why I was coming to you, it wasn’t one of those memory jumps … someone did something to you. They couldn’t actually harm you but they could make it seem like they were harming you for a short time as a way to get a message across.” Derek explained.

The way Derek had described it made it sound like a voo doo magic trick, “And you know this how?”

Derek sighed, “Mae used her magic and came to us earlier, she needed to speak with the pack, which is why I called the pack meeting; she told me not to include you in on this one. She said ‘this is specifically for the pack that protects Nepheliam.’ She was adamant about keeping you out of that meeting.”

Stiles couldn’t help but feel a little irritated at hearing his real name, “I told her to call me Stiles …”Stiles huffed before getting back to the point, “What did she say?”

Derek looked around, Stiles could tell he was observing the surrounding area to ensure no one was listening, “she made the pack swear to protect you with their lives; she said you were important but didn’t say why or how. She just said that you have great power and it will be needed in the future …” Derek smirked at that, treating it like a joke.

Stiles glowered at Derek, “wipe that smile off your face and get on with the details.”

Derek looked Stiles in the eyes and the smile on his face was gone, replaced with a more serious, fixed expression, “she said that people will come for us in the future … sometime soon. She said they were people that both you and I should know by now depending on who we’ve seen in our memories.”

“The four people that …” Stiles began.

“Not four …” Derek said quickly, “more like six or seven according to Mae; whoever they are we haven’t seen all of them yet and from what I saw I couldn’t really make out their faces when they were …” Derek cut himself off.

Stiles looked down at the grass he was sitting in, understanding completely what Derek was getting at, “Yeah I know …” Stiles allowed a moment of silence to go by, “so is there anything else?”

“Before she finished … she did something to the pack, when she was making them swear to protect you she ensured that they would give their lives in doing so.” Derek explained.

“How?” Stiles asked quickly.

Derek took a moment before he continued, “she needed to be sure they would do whatever it takes to keep you safe and she needed to be sure that there was no one that could possibly think of betraying the pack. She said ‘in this situation your word isn’t enough,’ she took their hands and I don’t know what she was doing but … she might have been reading them when they said they swore to protect you. She seemed satisfied when all of them agreed to it … and she gave them a choice to back out if they weren’t feeling up to it.”

Stiles thought over everything Derek said, “Okay you said she did something to them though? It sounds like they just gave their word to her and that was that, but you said that she said that wouldn’t be enough so … what else happened?”

“She marked them, it’s … it’s like a binding mark, like the signature on a contract that must be fulfilled. So in the future should you ever be in danger, regardless if they want to live on or not they will fight to the death to keep you safe.” Derek finished.

Stiles gawked, “everybody? … All of them?” Stiles couldn’t fathom why they would do something so stupid and he couldn’t understand why Derek allowed this to happen, “DEREK WHY WOULD YOU LET HER DO THAT?! WHY WOULD YOU LET THEM DO THAT?” Stiles grabbed Derek’s shirt.

“I will never take my packs right to choose away from them.” Derek growled, “They didn’t do anything that they didn’t want to, that decision was completely up to them and they all agreed to it without hesitation.”

Stiles let go of Derek’s shirt and stood up venting out his frustration, “that’s not fair …”

Derek took a second before standing, “it’s fair to them because you’re their friend you’re practically family to them and on more than one occasion you have risked your life to save theirs.” Derek said confidently. “Scott said that you would do it for them, no question; so there’s no reason for them not to do it when it comes to you.”

Stiles became bug eyed, “You let Scott talk you and your pack into something crazy like that?!”

Derek hung his head down shamefully, “I-I was … I was against it …”

Stiles looked Derek in the eye shocked and admittedly upset at the announcement, “you-you were?”

Derek refused to make eye contact with Stiles, “I didn’t like it and I still don’t …”

Each word was like a knife to the gut for Stiles, he knew he and Derek had a somewhat rocky relationship but he thought it had gotten better over the years, he didn’t think it was that bad; “why?”

“Because I’ve told you already, I told all of you I would like to see you graduate and live … I don’t want my pack to kill themselves over something … over someone that’s … that’s …” Derek had cut himself off again.

“That’s what Derek?” Stiles asked caustiously.

“That’s my responsibility …”

Stiles flinched, “your responsibility?”

Derek hesitated it was clear he was fighting some internal battle to keep it together and not run off, “you’re part of the pack … and the pack is my responsibility.” Derek said quietly avoiding Stiles eyes, it was obvious he was omitting the truth.

Stiles appeared skeptical at that, “Derek … you said that Mae asked the rest of the pack to swear on their lives they would keep me safe but you never said she asked you in particular…”

Now Stiles was onto something because that caused Derek to finally look up and look him in the eye; he had begun to breathe deeply and clench his fist, “Stiles …”

Stiles didn’t break eye contact with Derek when he asked, “why?”

“Because …” was all Derek offered.

Stiles stepped towards Derek, “because what Derek?”

Derek backed away from Stiles and shut his eyes, Stiles recognized that he was once again losing control over his wolf, “the reason … the reason why I can’t stay in control lately … the reason why Mae …”

Stiles stayed put, judging by the look on Derek’s face he could lose it at any moment, “Derek … dude are you okay?”

It was now or never, “You’re my mate …” Derek said.

Stiles was dumbfounded by the admission, “what?”

Derek finally opened his eyes and started breathing normally again as if the emission was all he needed to say to calm down, “you’re my mate … in-in every aspect apparently.”

Stiles gawked, “what the fu- like-like you know your mate as in I’m your friend or-“

Derek grunted, “Stiles I’m not from Australia and I don’t call my friends my mates …”

Stiles fumbled around with a few words before finally speaking coherently, “wait a minute but you-you … you barely even like me.”

Derek’s usual scowl had returned, “Stiles …”

“So you mean mate as in your wolf likes me or something?” Stiles asked.

Derek rolled his eyes and scrubbed a hand over his face, “don’t be an idiot about this Stiles.”

Stiles was rubbing his hands through his hair and spinning in circles trying to make sense of things, “dude … I-I … I don’t get any of this … since when am I your mate?”

“My wolf has recognized you as my mate for a while … I only found that out today thanks to Deaton.” Derek paused before continuing, “Before when I was having issues with control it wasn’t because of … it wasn’t because of my anger or emotional stress … it was because of you. Your scent alone is driving my wolf insane.”

Stiles huffed; convinced that this was some kind of joke Derek was playing on him, “you said that your wolf has known for a while now that I’m your mate so why didn’t you?”

Derek shrugged, “I never thought about finding my mate when I came back to Beacon Hills … I didn’t think about much of anything except power and killing the Argents … Kate in particular.”

Stiles nodded at the reminder, but he still wasn’t convinced that this was real; “right … so you realized now because?”

Derek sighed, “I realized now because I am no longer driven by anger. My head is focused on other things besides revenge and I guess that’s why I started noticing … you … or your scent for that matter.”

Stiles had begun to pace, “okay so … your wolf likes me basically and …” Stiles gestured for Derek to pick up from there.

“And because of that I have no choice but to make sure you’re safe at all times regardless of what you think of me … which is why Mae didn’t need to ask me to swear to protect you.”

Stiles rubbed his forehead as he took it all in, “I … you … I don’t think that’s fair. It’s basically the same as everyone else accepting something they shouldn’t have to accept …”

“Except I didn’t accept this Stiles; mating is something that happens naturally, there was no choice for me.”

Stiles frowned, “you know that doesn’t make it sound any better …”

Derek shrugged, “it doesn’t matter how it sounds Stiles; it is what it is.”

Stiles huffed, “I don’t want to upset you but the way this whole thing sounds it sort of makes it seem like I’m more of a burden than anything and you’re like … my lap dog …” Derek growled at the insinuation but Stiles wasn’t fazed by it, “and if your wolf likes me but you don’t, you shouldn’t have to feel like you have to protect me … it’s not fair.”

Derek rolled his eyes and grunted, “My wolf and I are one Stiles, stop making it seem like we’re two separate beings.”

Stiles figured as much, Scott had said something similar to him a while back but he wasn’t sure if the experience was the same for all werewolves. But if Derek felt he and his wolf were one that would mean- Stiles gaped at the sudden realization, “so then … you … human you-”

Derek growled, “Stiles”

Stiles held his hands out defensively, “okay, okay; so you’re saying you … you like me?”

“I don’t expect us to just run off into the sunset and live happily ever after now that you know you’re my mate and I’m not going to force myself on you …” Derek said avoiding the question.

“That’s good to know … but you didn’t answer my question.” Stiles pressed.

Derek looked like he was trying really hard not to hit something, “Why did I have to mate with such an annoying idiot,” Derek said to himself quietly. He took a deep breath and in one go said, “yes Stiles, I like you, are you happy?”

Stiles was a little dismayed by the emission, but this brought on many questions he wanted answers to; the first being ‘since when had Derek Hale started liking him and how come he never noticed?’

Stiles shrugged, “I guess … I don’t know to be honest, I never thought you really liked me any other way than just a … friend and that’s pushing it considering every time I’ve seen you before now you always seem annoyed to see me.

Derek nodded appearing unfazed by Stiles words, “I know and it’s just like I said I don’t expect you to just want to shack up and call it a day but … you have to know though, if things start to get a little weird or like …” Derek didn’t allow himself to finish as he clearly was struggling trying to explain something.

“Weird how?” Stiles asked.

“If I’m closer to you when it comes to pack meetings or I just so happen to drop by your house on occasion, don’t be surprised.”

Stiles wanted to press for more information but his mind had already taken as much as it can handle for one night and he’s going to have a hard time getting over the fact that Derek is interested in him; beside that he still needed to figure out what the hell those images were from earlier and who did that to him. Jokes and sarcasm were the safest way out of this conversation and probably the only way to leave an open dialogue to which Stiles could come back to when he was ready.

Stiles shrugged, “well what the hell I mean I should expect as much; I mean your wolf is totally digging me cause I smell irresistible and-“

Derek’s scowl returned, “and if you don’t want to wind up with your face in the grass, I suggest you stop there.”

Stiles face screwed up, “you know now that you’re aware I’m your mate, I don’t think you could actually hurt me anymore.”

Derek rolled his eyes regretting that Stiles now had the one up on him, “don’t take advantage of that Stiles, I swear to God-“

“Calm down big guy I won’t tell anybody that the big bad wolf has a soft spot …” Stiles said as he walked towards Derek and patted him on the shoulder, “I need to head home though. I am tired as hell and I just figured out a whole bunch of shit that has left me nothing short of mind blown …” Stiles said as he started walking away from Derek.

“Stiles …”

“We can chat more tomorrow sourwolf I gotta, catch some Z’s” Stiles waved back to Derek.

“Stiles …”

Stiles continued to wave Derek off and walk away, “I’m fine getting home on my own.”

“Stiles you’re going the wrong way …”

Stiles turned around and squinted at Derek, “you sure?”

Derek pinched the bridge of his nose, “your house is in the opposite direction.”

Stiles started back towards Derek, “I knew that … I was just seeing how well you knew your way around …”

Derek wanted to swat Stiles in the back of the head so bad but right now his instincts wanted him to do anything but hurt his mate; he huffed, “shut up Stiles … let’s get you home.”

“I said I could get myself home.” Stiles insisted as he got closer to Derek.

Derek turned as Stiles was about to pass him and begun keeping pace with him, “and I’m saying I’m going to walk you home.”

Stiles didn’t try to argue with Derek on that, they probably would have just argued all the way back to his house. So they walked back to his house in silence; some might say it was a little awkward but Stiles felt comfortable not saying anything for the first time in a while and just enjoying the silence and the company that came with it.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So now both of them know they're mates ... doesn't necessarily mean they will be shacking up anytime soon lol. Let me know what you think, all mistakes are mine so please let me know if you see any. Thanks for reading.

**Author's Note:**

> Well that's it, there's more to come so I hope you enjoyed this at least. Let me know what you thought and thanks again for reading.


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